A Summer Of Decisions
by heutsmaityp
Summary: Finally reaching a point where Harry can get past his Godfather's death, he decides to train and ready himself for the coming war
1. Chapter 1

A/N: I do not own Harry Potter

**Chapter 1**

It was now a week into the summer vacation at #4 Privet drive where a young boy named Harry Potter had returned after his fifth year of school, and enough time had finally passed to allow Harry to gain some perspective on the events that had happened during the last year and especially the events at the Department of Mysteries where his godfather had been killed. He finally had been able to distance himself from the pain to realize that he was not completely to blame for his Sirius' death, he now understood that the blame for the death of his godfather rest on six people: himself, for not thinking things through before going to try and "rescue" Sirius, Sirius for not taking the duel seriously, Snape for constantly antagonizing Sirius while he was stuck in Grimmauld Place, Professor Dumbledore for ordering Sirius to stay in the house and by hiding many things from Harry that he needed to know, Bellatrix for casting the curse that sent Sirius through the veil, and finally on Voldemort for being the one in charge of those who had killed the most important people in Harry's short life.

With this realization he was finally able to come to terms with the death of his godfather and be able to see that he was not to blame for all the things that had happened to everyone since entering the wizarding world as he initially had after hearing the prophecy only weeks before. However, even realizing that he was not to blame did not mean that he would sit idle and do nothing while Voldemort grew stronger, no he had decided to train and prepare himself for the fight that was to come.

With the decision to train he was forced to reluctantly admit that he would need to do what the sorting hat had wanted to do when he first arrived at school, let out his inner Slytherin. He would need to no let his bravery be the dominant influence on his mind, he needed to use his cunning and ambition to come out of hiding. He had always been smart, but had constantly held back when he was still going to muggle schools because he would get into trouble by outshining his cousin, now he needed to no longer hold back and finally show the world what he was truly capable of.

The first step to accomplishing his new goal was to speak with his Uncle, he was going to need several things during his stay at the Dursley's this summer. So after breakfast that morning Harry stopped his Uncle from leaving the table and started talking.

"Uncle Vernon," said Harry.

"Yes boy, what is it?" he growled at his nephew.

"I am going to need you to take me to an optometrist and possibly a sporting goods store." Harry stated while watching his Uncle become slightly upset.

"And why should I do that you ungrateful brat?"

"Two reasons: One because if you don't I will tell my minders that you have been treating me poorly and then they will show up here, and second because you will not be paying for anything and I will make it worth your while." Harry stated.

"Oh really, and how can you make it worth my while? You have no money so you wont even be able to pay for the things you want." Vernon sneered.

"My parents left me some money that will be more than enough to pay for whatever I need."

"What? You have had money the whole time? You will go and bring it to us! After all we have done for you and you have had money the whole time that could have paid for everything we bought you, you will be getting us that money!" he roared growing increasingly angry.

"I will do no such thing." Harry stated in a cool voice. "First the money is in a wizarding bank that would require you to venture into a place where there are hundreds of witches and wizards and then you would have to go into a bank that is controlled by goblins and guarded by dragons. However, if you take me and the rest of the family to a place that would have everything I need all in one place, preferably a mall, then I will give you a hundred pounds to drive me there and back and another 1000 pounds after we get back."

"Fine, but you will not be buying any of those freakish things. We will be leaving tomorrow morning after breakfast." Vernon grumbled.

"That will be fine, now if you will excuse me I have to talk to Dudley." And with that he got up from the table and went upstairs in search of his obese cousin. Reaching his cousins bedroom door Harry knocked waiting for Dudley to open the door.

"What do you want?" Dudley growled.

"I need to ask you several questions that could be very rewarding for you if answered correctly."

Even with his below average IQ Dudley was able to process that he might be able to get something out of answering his cousin's questions. "Fine, come in but be quick about it."

"Without lying, are you any good at boxing or are you just making it up?" asked Harry.

"I am still the champion boxer for my weight level at Smeltings, if that answers your question."

"Good, then you would be able to teach me how to box."

"And why would I want to do that?" sneered Dudley.

"Because not only would you be getting top quality boxing equipment that you will get to keep after I leave later this Summer, I would also pay you 300 pounds to train me for the few weeks that I will be here."

"I doubt you could afford to buy the equipment necessary but you don't even have 300 pounds to pay me with." stated Dudley.

"And if I can prove to you that I have enough money to pay for what I stated, will you train me?"

"If you have the money then yeah I'll teach you."

"Good, then as today is Saturday, be ready to start my training Monday morning." And with that he got up and left for his own bedroom.

Entering his room Harry went immediately to his trunk and pulled out his invisibility cloak, his wand, and his money bag. After which he turned and left. Going downstairs he encountered his Uncle where he informed him that he was leaving for the day and that he would be back in several hours.

Before leaving the house, Harry donned his cloak and left out the back door, quietly making his way across the lawn and around the house where he then walked down the street until he reached a secluded area at the park that was a few block away from his house. After checking to make sure the coast was clear, he removed his cloak and waved his wand signaling the Knight Bus. A moment later a loud crack signaled the arrival of the Knight Bus.

"Where to mate?"

"Diagon Alley," Harry replied.

"Right, that'll be 7 sickles and take about 15 minutes to reach, you have your choice of any of the beds."

"Thanks." Harry replied while handing over the money.

_15 minutes later…_

"Right we're here." Stated the conductor.

"Well thanks for the ride." Said Harry as he got off the bus and entered the Leaky Cauldron, where he immediately headed for the portal that was the entrance to Diagon Alley. Entering the wizarding shopping center he went straight to Gringotts, careful to keep his head down so that no one would recognize him, for once grateful for his scar as people were more apt to focus solely on that then on him.

Entering the bank, Harry went straight to the tellers and presented his key. "I would like to make a withdrawal from my vault."

"Name?" sneered the goblin.

Leaning towards the goblin so that he wouldn't be overheard he said "Harry Potter."

The goblin then snapped his eyes up and looked at Harry carefully before saying "Yes so you are, however I will not be able to let you visit vault at this time. Your presence is required with Ragnot the head of the inheritance division."

Pausing for a moment to digest this new information Harry came to the conclusion that this probably had something to do with his godfather's will. Coming to his senses Harry states "of course, if you could have someone direct me to the appropriate office, I will go now."

"Of course, this is Griphook he will take you to the appropriate office."

This was how Harry found himself following a goblin. His curiosity getting the better of him he stated "Hello, Griphook. It's been a long time since I last saw you. I was wondering if you knew why Ragnot needed to speak with me?"

Blinking in what Harry had assumed was surprise Griphook said "Yes it has Mr. Potter. As for why you are here I have no idea, as I am not part of the Inheritance division I do not know why you were sent a letter to come here…"

"Wait, a letter? I never received a letter." Harry stated.

"Interesting, while I do not know why you were summoned, it is customary for a letter to be sent t notify the recipient of a summons. And the tellers were told several days ago to send you the Ragnot's office upon your next arrival."

"Hmm… Well that is interesting, but not altogether unsurprising that I did not receive a letter, but I doubt it is of any fault of the goblins. Anyway, we're here I take it?" receiving a nod in reply he said "Thank-you for the information Griphook, it was most… enlightening, it was pleasant talking to you again. Good-bye."

Entering the office Harry noticed a goblin sitting behind a large desk. "Ragnot?" he asked.

"Ah Mr. Potter. You have finally arrived, we were growing worried that you would not show when we did not receive a reply to letter we sent you."

"Yes, about the letter, I never received the letter. However, that is of no fault of the goblins and as I am here now perhaps we could begin. I am assuming that I am here for my godfather's will."

"Yes quite. To business, you are only partially correct. You are here for Sirius Black's will AND your parents will."

"My parents will? I thought that would have been executed before now." Harry stated.

"It was, however only since you are now guadianless, can the final aspects of your parents will be carried out."

"Makes sense, anyway lets begin."

"Absolutely, anyway the will of Sirius Black." Ragnot stated as he handed Harry a sheet of parchment.

_The Last Will and Testament of Sirius Orion Black_

_I, Sirius Orion Black, being of sound mind and health hereby declare this to be my last will and testament, nullifying all previous wills._

_To those reading this I am now dead, as I am currently unaware as to how this came about I will assume I died in some heroic manner. If not I wont know so it doesn't matter._

_Anyway now that that unpleasant business has been taken care of, we can now get on to the fun stuff, my fortune._

_To Remus J. Lupin, I leave 1 million galleons and #12 Grimmauld place, however to claim this Moony you'll have to take at least 1000 galleons and spend it on purely frivolous pursuits, such as getting new clothes._

_To Nymphadora Tonks, my favorite cousin, I leave 1 million galleons. Now a little information for the near future, Harry will have to talk to you soon. When he does, please try not to hurt him too bad._

_To Harry James Potter, I leave everything else, all the gold and property. I also hereby emancipate you. You're an adult now, do what you want, go get drunk, find a girl, do magic you now have that right._

_Now in closing, I would like to say that no matter how I died, do not get stuck mourning me, remember to live, have fun, and prank people. Make the Marauders proud._

_Padfoot_

Blinking back tears, but with a small smile on his face Harry whispered "I'll try Padfoot, have fun with my parents, I love you."

Looking back at Ragnot, Harry regained his focus and asked "I presume I need to sign something?"

"Yes, Mr. Potter" said the goblin as he handed Harry several sheets of parchment. "If you will just sign these you will claim the inheritance that Mr. Black gave you, and will legally make you an adult. This allows you to do anything an adult can with the exception of age specific activities such as drinking." The goblin explained as Harry read through and signed the documents.

"Ragnot, I have a quick question."

"Go ahead."

"Do you know what Sirius meant when he told Ms. Tonks not to hurt me?" he asked with a curious and bemused expression.

"I believe I do, however that will be answered in a moment as we go through your parent's will," answered the goblin. "We should begin."

"Of course. Let's begin." Harry said as he was handed the piece of parchment.

_The Last Will and Testament of James and Lily Potter_

_Harry, if your reading this it means we died and we're betrayed by Peter. He was our secret keeper. We want you to know that we love you and are proud of you no matter what, you are our son. We hope that you had a happy childhood with Sirius; he is your chosen guardian. Under no circumstances are you to be left with your Aunt, she is a spiteful woman who would never raise you the way you should. Now, we need to tell you some things about your mother. Your mother has always been the studious one, she could always be found leaning, and whether from a book or people she never stopped learning. Anyway, in her 7th year she decided to trace the lineage of the founder she took after most, Rowena Ravenclaw, while very deserving to be in Gryffindor she was just as smart as she was brave. Back to the Ravenclaw's lineage, your mother was able to trace it farther than anyone has before; she traced it to the end. She found that the line was lost almost 200 years ago when the descendents started to breed more squibs than mages, as such many thought the line just died out, but it was continued when the last surviving child married a muggle named John Evans. Now if you have any of your mother's intelligence you might have already put it together. Your mother is the last descendant of Ravenclaw, as you probably are now we were skeptical too, but we went to the goblins and asked them to confirm if the results, they have ways to this and they were able to confirm that Lily is the heir of Ravenclaw._

_Now if that isn't a big enough shock, when we went to visit the Ravenclaw vault we found only a small amount of money but a great deal of knowledge, knowledge about spells, potions, and anything and everything. However, along with this knowledge we found information about Ravenclaw's family and customs. One custom was an old pureblood one; the custom described the family's history with arranged marriages, not necessarily to pureblooded families but arranged marriages none the less. The means the match does not have to be between two "old" families, only between the Ravenclaw heir and a family deemed worthy in the eyes of the heir. _

_What this means is that as soon as your mother recognized herself as the heir of Ravenclaw, she was magically bound to fulfill the arranged marriage contract… Hopefully, with your mother's intellect you have figured out what this means, you are in an arranged marriage, now because we didn't want to just set you up with a complete stranger, we decided to arrange it with Nymphadora Tonks, who you should have met by now, she is Sirius's cousin, a very fun loving girl who we hope you will get along with._

_As with normal arranged marriages you will have to marry her by your 17th birthday as you are the family she is marrying into. Also, because you will be the head of two families all of the Potter and Ravenclaw material and monetary belongings will be yours as soon as your majority._

_After leaving you with these shocks, we only wish to say that we love you, and that we wish you all the happiness in the world, and don't forget to live._

_Love,_

_Your Mother and Father_

_Lily and James Potter_

Slumping down in his chair Harry let all the information sink in. He was the heir of Ravenclaw, he was now an adult and he was betrothed to Tonks… _Holy Shit, I am going to marry Tonks, she is going to kill me. _He thought, he then made a connection to Sirius' will. _So this is what you meant Sirius, I sincerely hope that she listens to me before she kills me. _He thought with a slightly fearful chuckle. After getting over the initial shock, Harry was ready to get back to business he could dwell on this information later.

"Well that answers my question from earlier," Harry said. "Now is there anything I need to know or do before we finish here?"

"Other than signing the appropriate forms, everything is done." Stated Ragnot.

"OK, then if you can get me the forms we can finish. Also, I was wondering if it would be possible to get a listing of all my current holdings from all the inheritance I now own. One more thing I was hoping to find out is if you could arrange for me to get a large amount of money, both wizarding and muggle. Is this possible?"

"The forms for you to sign are ready and a listing of all your holdings can be gotten for you within a few moments. As for your money requests, I know we have a way to accomplish this and will have another goblin get that set up for you while we finish up here." Stated Ragnot, while calling Griphook back in to get the money set up and getting a listing for Harry's inheritance.

Twenty minutes later Harry had finished signing the paperwork and Griphook had returned with both a file full of the details of Harry's new estate and a box that Harry assumed was the money Harry had requested.

"Mr. Potter, here is a listing of your estate that you can look over at your leisure." Stated Griphook while opening the box. "And here is a new money bag for you that can hold up to 10,000 galleons at a time, which has been pre-filled for you, and can only be withdrawn from by you. Here is a wallet that can hold 1,000 pounds cash, also pre-filled. Inside the wallet you will also find an ATM card that can be used to withdraw more money or can be used as a credit card for larger purchases, a drivers license has also been provided for you, in case the store requires proof of identification, your license also has a small notice-me-not charm that will make it so people do not ask questions about the information on the identification. Do you have questions?"

"No, not at all. You have done more than I thought was possible." Harry said while getting to his feet and shaking both goblins' hands and asking to leave.

_10 minutes later…_

Harry had been escorted to the lobby and was outside the bank, back in Diagon Alley. Moving quickly he went immediately to the wizarding trunk store, upon entering he asked the sales clerk to see the multi-compartment trunks. The clerk helped him pick out a three compartment trunk where each section has twice the normal volume of a normal trunk.

Leaving the store he was walking down the alley towards Madame Malkin's when he encountered fellow Gryffindors Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil.

"Hey Harry," Parvati and Lavender said.

"Hi, Parvati, Lavender. What are you up to?"

"We were bored so we decided to come here and shop."

"Really…?" Harry said as he was coming up with an idea that would satisfy any curiosity they had as well as help him with another of his errands. "Do you have anywhere you need to be?"

"No, we were just going to walk around some more. Why?" Parvati asked.

"Well, I was planning on heading over to Madame Malkin's and could use your help picking out an entire new wardrobe. I was planning on just having her help me pick out some clothes, because as you can see my sense of fashion is pretty much non-existent." He said with a self-deprecating grin.

"It sounds like fun but why would we want to spend the day helping you buy clothes?" Lavender asked.

"Who said I was the only one who was going to be getting clothes today? My Godfather passed away at the end of term and left me some money. As part my inheritance he said I had to go buy some new clothes and 'burn the rest of the crap' I had been wearing. So I have more than enough to myself a new wardrobe and buy you both a few outfits. If you want to that is?" Harry stated in a half lie.

"We're sorry for your godfather, but he was right about your clothes. Your sense of fashion is crap." Parvati said. Sharing a look with Lavender she continued "We will help you finally achieve a decent state of fashion though."

"Excellent, well then let's go, I have a feeling that this is going to take a while." He said with a bemused grin while walking off with the girls.

_Three hours later…_

An exhausted looking Harry exited the shop after storing all his purchases in the first compartment of his trunk and wearing a new outfit of tight black jeans and a snug fitting off-white sweater that was supposed to be worn without a shirt underneath. "Thank-you, Parvati, Lavender. It's been fun. I hope you enjoyed your time today." He said as the two happy looking girls exited the shop with him carrying several bags themselves.

"Of course," Parvati said with a grin. "However, I think the best part was finally getting to see what was under those baggy clothes. With a body like yours why the hell did you hide it under those clothes?"

Blushing furiously and looking down Harry mumbled "I'm nothing impressive, I'm just a scrawny little boy." When he finally looked back up he saw their mouths agape. "What?"

"You really don't get it do you? Harry, listen to us as your friends ok. You may not be particularly buff but the muscles you do have are very defined. If we were already dating someone we would be all over you." She said with a flirtatious wink.

"Fine, fine I get it, I may not be able to it myself but I'll take your word for it ok. Anyway, thanks again for your help, but I really need to go get some other errands done. Bye, and I'll remember to wear one these outfits on the first so I can show all the hard-work you two did." He said with a laugh and a wave good-bye.

"Bye Harry," Lavender and Parvati said.

_Five Minutes Later…_

Harry was walking into Flourish and Blott's, his last stop before returning to Gringotts. Inside he walked up and down the aisles picking up books to read during the summer. Twenty minutes later he had finally found enough books. He had a total of 11 books: one on Occulemency and Meditation, two on charms, two on transfiguration, a book about Metamorphagai (he figured if he was going to be married to one he might as well learn what he could about them), and then five about Defense Against the Dark Arts and Dueling.

_Ten Minutes later…_

Harry was back at Gringotts. He wanted to down to both the Potter, Black and Ravenclaw vaults. After a few moments he had reached the front of the line and was heading towards carts to be taken down to his vaults.

After reaching the Potter vault, he stepped inside to see a great deal of gold, jewelry, weapons and quite a few books. He quickly refilled his money sack, and then went over to the weapons where he found a pair of daggers that still gleamed brightly and had sheaths that would magically attach to anywhere on his body. He then went over to the shelves of books where he found several more books: a few on charms, some on transfiguration, a few more on dueling and then the book he considered the greatest find was about the process of becoming an animagus written by the Marauders. After staring at the book in his hand he quickly put it in his trunk with all the others and then left the vault telling the goblin to take him to the Black vault.

In the Black vault he found much the same thing as in the Potter vault, except for the book collection was smaller and featured many more books about the dark arts. He still browsed through them picking out a few books that seemed to feature many spells useful for dueling both offensively and defensively before leaving and heading to the Ravenclaw vault.

Inside, he found his parents were right when they said there was only some gold but a great deal of books. There was less money than in the Potter or Black vault but there were probably over a thousand books, definitely living up to the Ravenclaw reputation for having a thirst for knowledge. Spending the next two hours around the books he found many more that he wanted to bring back with him. The most interesting one he found was a guide to wandless magic, something thought could be of great value to him and would come as great surprise to his enemies as wandless magic was thought to be impossible.

After a total of three hours in his vaults he returned to the lobby of Gringotts where he went to another teller to exchange galleons for another 2000 pounds in muggle currency before heading to the Leaky Cauldron and back into muggle London and taking the Knight Bus back to Surrey arriving just in time for dinner.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: I do not own Harry Potter

Chapter 2

Walking in the front door of Privet drive Harry encountered his 'family' as they were sitting down to eat. Joining them at the table his uncle began to talk.

"Where have you been boy?" Vernon snarled.

With a calm gaze he replied "I left to go shopping in the wizarding shopping centers and do a little banking." As he said this he withdrew his wallet to retrieve the money he had promised his relatives. "Uncle here is the money I promised you, I will give it to you after we return from our trip tomorrow." Shifting his attention to Dudley he continued "Dudley here is 100 pounds now," he said as he handed over part the money he promised his cousin. "I know this isn't what we agreed to, but I have the other 200 pounds on me you will receive it the day I leave this summer. Now if you have no other questions we should eat dinner before it gets cold."

"Boy, just because you have money now doesn't mean you have control over us. We should just kick you out now since you obviously have the money needed to."

With an innocent look he said "Sure go ahead, I'll go upstairs pack my things and write to my minders, and then they can come pick me up… However, if you remember the creatures that attacked Dudley and I, they have escaped from the prison they were guarding and are now serving a dark wizard, the same dark wizard who killed my parents and wants to kill me. The reason I am living here is because Aunt Petunia is my blood relative, as such by living here a short time every year she gives me a certain amount of protection, the same protection that protects you while I am not here. If I leave here before the protections Aunt Petunia grants me are regenerated then the ones you have will be non-existent and the people who want me dead will come to kill you solely for the fact that you are not a wizard and therefore inferior to them and because they think it will make me leave wherever I am staying to come and rescue or avenge your deaths… But I go now and pack. Good-bye." Harry said while getting up from the table to go upstairs.

"Boy."

"Yes Uncle?" Harry replied while pausing to turn around on the stairs.

Through gritted teeth Vernon said "Stay."

"I'm sorry uncle, what was that?"

"You can stay."

"Are you sure? I can still leave if want." Harry says as his uncle becomes an increasing shade of crimson, knowing he needs to stop this soon as his uncle is close to losing the battle against his temper.

"Yes."

"Alright uncle, if your sure then I will stay. I still need to do some things in my room tonight so goodnight."

_In his room…_

Harry sat down on his bed resting from all the surprises that had occurred throughout the day. He had just learned that he was now legally an adult, he would no longer be subjected to the whims of the adults around him. He also has a fiancée for all intents and purposes… he just had to tell her about it. He also ha d enough money to last him several lifetimes, so money would never be a problem.

Looking at his clock he found it was fairly late and there were things he wanted to go through. The main thing he wanted to do was read the occulemency book so he would be able to block Voldemort from his mind, or at least that was his long-term goal. His short-term goal was to learn it well enough so that he could shield his thoughts from the order. Getting out the book he began to read.

An hour later he finally learned how to clear his mind, the step that Snape had neglected to teach him last. This turned out to be remarkably easy, at least in theory. The book said to clear his mind he was to focus on one thing such as a flame or any object that he could visualize in detail and get lost in the details so that the mind would not wander from the scene or object imagined. The book mentioned that after he had mastered that stage he would be able to forgo the image and truly blank his mind.

Before he tried to put the information to use, he decided he would put his newfound freedom to work by changing his room so that he could have a more comfortable summer. He transfigured his thin mattress into a something that better resembled the beds in his dormitory at Hogwarts. He then transfigured one of Dudley's old, broken toys into a comfortable armchair and tale so that he would have a place to study this summer. As his last task he shrunk all of Dudley's things in his room and put them in the closet so he would have more room during the summer.

With that done he sat down in his new chair and started to clear his mind. He concentrated on the flame as it was the example used. He visualized the flame, blotting out all the surrounding details and allowing the flame to burn away all thoughts that came to invade his mind and distract his concentration. Two hours and many attempts later he finally was able to clear his mind and hold out all thoughts for half-an-hour. Deciding that this was a good enough success for tonight he decided to go to sleep and finish reading the book tomorrow after he got back from the mall with his 'family.'

_The Next Morning, Sunday…_

Waking up from the best night of sleep he had had this summer he decided to unpack his clothes that he bought yesterday. Storing his clothes into his closet he picked out an outfit and padded into the bathroom to shower and get ready for the day before he went down for breakfast. Twenty minutes later he was done and downstairs eating his small breakfast that had been left out for him, a piece of toast and one piece of bacon, he also made a note to 'convince' his relatives that he needed to eat more food this summer. Finishing his breakfast his uncle walked into the kitchen.

"You ready to leave yet?" Vernon grumbled.

"Almost uncle, let me wash these dishes then we can go." Harry replied.

"Well hurry up boy, we don't have all day."

"Yes uncle… OK I'm done, let's go."

"Go get Dudley and then get in the car."

Nodding his head Harry went upstairs and got his cousin before stopping in his room to get his money for the purchases he was going to buy today, and then exiting the house and getting in the car.

_One and a half hours later…_

Harry and his 'family' had reached London and walked in the doors to the mall.

"OK boy, what are we doing here?" his uncle asked.

"We are going to go find the sporting goods store." Harry answered.

"Why do you need to go there boy? I doubt that the freaks like you would play _normal_ sports." Vernon sneered.

"Your right they don't, but as I mentioned before there is this big evil wizard after me and I need to get in shape, so I am going to buy a full weight set, and a complete setup for boxing training as Dudley said he would train me this summer as long as I was able to buy the equipment and pay him for the training. And I will be leaving the equipment with you when I leave so Dudley can have them to train after I am gone."

"Fine boy, let's get this over with."

Two hours later Harry and his relatives had left the sporting goods store after having paid for the equipment and giving the store a very hefty tip to ensure that the equipment got delivered first thing the next morning. Getting in the car they made their way back home arriving around midday. After getting home Harry proceeded to pay off his aunt and uncle the 1500 pounds he had promised them for taking him to the store. After which he turned to his aunt and started speaking.

"Aunt Petunia?"

"Yes boy." She answered.

"As I am going to be training this summer I am going to need to be eating more food, specifically the same type of food that Dudley would need for his boxing training."

"Why should I boy? You have done nothing to deserve us spending more money so that we can feed you food that should be going to my Duddikinns."

"I don't expect you to pay for the food." Harry said with a forced calm. "I will give you 200 pounds that you can spend for food that is solely for my food. If you do this for me I will also give you another 300 pounds when I leave this summer."

"Fine boy, you give me the money and I will make sure you eat the proper food that you would need for the training you will be doing this summer."

"Thank you Aunt Petunia," Harry said before retiring to his room for the afternoon to continue his studies.

Upon entering his room Harry went to his trunk to unpack all the books he had bought and taken from his vaults the day before. Deciding he had too many books to leave them stacked on the desk he took another broken toy of Dudley's and transfigured it into a bookshelf so that he could organize the books accordingly.

Once he had the books unpacked he decided to read the parchments that he had received from Gringotts that detailed the Potter-Black-Ravenclaw estate. After having read the parchments he was able to conclude that his estate went as follows:

_Gold_

_Potter estate: 25,067,989 galleons_

_Black estate: 43,897,634 galleons_

_Ravenclaw estate: 10,293,048 galleons_

_Total: 79,258,671 galleons_

_Property_

_Potter estate:_

_Family home (Godric's Hollow – ruined)_

_Ancestral home (Outside Hogsmeade – intact, unused)_

_Apartment (75 Diagon Alley – intact, unused)_

_Black estate_

_Vacation home (Paris, France – intact, sealed)_

_Ravenclaw esate_

_Ravenclaw Manor (Hidden, to be opened by heir)_

_¼ Hogwarts castle (Scotland)_

_Stock_

_Potter estate: _

_Flourish and Blotts (25)_

_Nimbus Broom company (51)_

_Daily Prophet (30)_

_Black estate:_

_Borgins and Bourkes (30)_

_Daily Prophet (50)_

_Brewed Fame (14)_

_Ravenclaw estate:_

_Ollivanders (25)_

Harry was shocked to find that he now had so much money, he had expected there to be only a few million at most but with the current exchange rate of 5.3 pounds to galleon he now had 420,070,956.30 pounds not to mention that he now owned several houses and stock in several companies that were doing fairly well. Feeling somewhat dazed he decided to practice clearing his mind as there was still much he needed to do before he went to sleep for the night.

After practicing his occulemency for another two hours he found he was now able to clear his mind much faster then previously but was still unable to do so instantly as the book indicated was necessary to move on to creating actual shields. Deciding that he should start on his other books for the moment he decided to start reading with his wandless magic as that would be of more use to him in a fight than a larger spell library as it would give a bigger advantage over enemies that were far more knowledgeable in spells then he was. Reading the book, which was surprisingly short considering the type of information that was stored within he was able to finish it just before dinner, allowing him to start the practical aspects of wandless magic after dinner was over.

Dinner turned out to be a short-lived affair and half-an-hour he had returned and was starting the initial stage of learning this forgotten art.

_The art of wandless magic fell into disuse as shortly after the creation of the wand because of the ease a wand gives a mage in learning magic and because the control it takes is far greater than a wand requires. The invention of the wand solved the power control issues as it made it surprisingly easy to focus your magic on any spell. However, the creation of the wand has also made learning wandless magic much simpler as a properly attuned wand will make access to a mages magical core much easier than previously._

_To learn how to access your magical core it is important that you know how to clear your mind of all excess thought as any superfluous thoughts can inhibit the finding of your magical core. To begin simply sit in a comfortable position and place your wand within easy reach of your preferred hand then proceed to clear your mind until it is blank and then simply pick up your wand and focus on the feelings that your wand evokes. Ignore any emotions that you have associated with the wand and map wear that feeling is coming from, memorizing the sensations of that feeling as it is your magic. This feeling is not your magical core, you need to continue mapping that feeling until the sensation changes to something resembling a blazing fire, this is your magical core. The 'hotter' the 'flame' the more powerful you are as a mage._

_Once you have been able to find your core release your wand and come out of the meditative state. Now you must try to regain that feeling without your wand. If necessary repeat the exercise above until you can actively feel your core. When you are able to actively feel your core without a wand will the magic to swell filling you completely then push it back down, continue this until you are no longer able to do so. This is a very magically draining exercise but is required to gain faster access to your magical core also allowing for more powerful spells to be cast as your body becomes used to handling raw magical energy. As a side effect if this is learned before the mage enters magical maturity it will cause the witch or wizard to come into their full magical powers sooner than originally intended and in rare cases can have the side effect of making the wizard more powerful than what would have normally have been the case because the witch or wizard will start growing earlier but continue to grow for just as long as they normally would have. As magical maturity begins at age 17 and continues on average for 1½ - 2 years with exceptions of up to 4 years, but those mages are few and far between occurring only once every few hundred years._

Having read that passage Harry was much more eager to learn wandless magic as he was still over a year away from his 17th birthday and which would allow him to grow more powerful than originally intended. Beginning the exercises Harry required over an hour to finally find his magical core, however, once he found it he proceeded to bask in its warmth as the feeling made him feel safe, warm, and comforted like a mother's embrace. Ten minutes later he finally left his core noting that it was the heat of a moderate sized bonfire.

After coming out of his trance he proceeded to try and find his magical core without his wand, a task that he tried with every fiber of his being as he wanted to experience that feeling again. Shortly before midnight he succeeded but before he was able to try making his magic swell he was interrupted by the clock striking twelve and interrupting him from his trance. Looking at the clock he decided that it was time for him to sleep as tomorrow promised to be a tiring day.

_The Next Day, Monday…_

Waking up, he saw that it was already 8 a.m. and the equipment would be here soon. He needed to get up and get downstairs for breakfast before all the food was as he had a feeling that he was going to need the energy today.

At 9 a.m. the delivery truck arrived, signing for the equipment he quickly had it moved down into the basement as that was the only place that had enough room that wasn't outside. Several hours, and a great deal of frustration later he had the equipment unpacked and assembled. Upon which he went into the kitchen for some lunch before he had Dudley come down and start teaching him how to box and how to use the weight lifting equipment properly. By the time dinner came around he was bruised, sore and exhausted and more than ready for sleep to claim him. Unfortunately he still had to practice his occulemency and his wandless abilities before he would allow himself to sleep.

Retiring to his room for the night Harry proceeded to try and access his magical core without his wand, this time there was some marked improvement as it only took him half as long to find his core. However, instead of this tiring him out he found himself refreshed and this time he had enough time to try and make his magic swell, finding this to be easier than anticipated he was able to so on his first try. Just before his magic consumed him he was able to force it back down. This turned out to be far more tiring than he anticipated and was only able to do this two more times before he nearly collapsed in exhaustion. He had just enough energy to clear his mind before bed and change into his pajamas before collapsing into his bed for the night.

_The following Sunday…_

Harry continued his exercises for the rest of the week. Waking up he would change into some workout clothes he had bought at the sporting goods store and go for a one-mile run before returning to his room to shower and eat breakfast. After which he would join Dudley in the basement to continue his boxing training and weight lifting until lunch where he would eat a large meal full of protein before doing whatever chores he had and then going back into his room to continue his studies until he went to sleep stopping only to eat dinner.

Last night he had finally mastered his initial occulemency training to move onto the creation of mind shields. He had made little progress with that area but had decided that he should start reading his other books. He began by re-reading all his textbooks from previous years so that he would have a good foundation before moving on to the advanced texts that he recently acquired.

His progress with wandless magic was ok, he was able to access his core almost immediately and swell his magic several times before tiring, his main trouble now was making his intent strong enough to actually cast a spell. He had only been able to cast wandless spells when he was especially frustrated, although it did make him realize that magic was powered by the casters emotions, and that the more powerful emotions were love and hate. Love was especially good for light and neutral spells where hate made dark arts spell a great deal more powerful however they were more difficult to cast as they required the caster to truly hate the recipient of the spell. Like Bellatrix Lestrange had said at the ministry righteous anger is not powerful enough to cause true pain.

He also had it hit home about what the book was saying about wandless magic being so difficult to control as whenever he cast a spell without a wand he found he was much more tired than before and the spell was only as powerful as a first-year's spell. When he re-read the book he found that with more practice the power of the spells would increase and the amount of magic required would decrease but it usually required months of training to get to level of being able to cast anything more than low-level spells, curses, and shields.

At the end of the day he decided it was time to contact his friends and the order. He had been noticeably quiet since term had ended two weeks ago and needed to learn what had been going on since school ended.

_Dear Hermione, _

_Sorry I haven't written sooner but I was still trying to work through what happened at the ministry and what happened afterward. But I think I am finally getting past it, I have finally been able to work through Sirius dying._

_I also wanted to apologize for leading you to the ministry and that you got hurt there, but I also wanted to thank you for trusting me enough to follow me even when you knew it could be dangerous. I hope you will forgive me for everything that has happened and that we can remain friends (after last year I'm not sure I deserve it). You have been one of my best and only friends since entering the wizarding world and would be crushed if you left._

_Other than that I have been doing well, the Order scared my relatives enough at the train station that they have been leaving me alone for the most part. Other than that I have been going over all my school books and studying (try not to faint, I do know how to study) so that I will be better prepared for the NEWT classes next year. Also relax, I'm sure you did well on the OWLs, just try and have fun this summer._

_Your Friend,_

_Harry._

Deciding that that sounded good enough, he decided to keep what he had and wrote a similar letter to Ron. Next he decided that it would be good to write Neville, Luna and Ginny letters.

_Dear Neville,_

_I wanted to say thank you for coming to the ministry with me, it meant a lot to me that you came for no other reason than a friend was in need, you truly belong in Gryffindor._

_Also I wanted to apologize for getting you hurt. You have been a true friend I hope to see you on September 1st._

_Harry._

_Dear Luna,_

_I wanted to say thank you for coming to the ministry with me, it meant a lot to me that you came for no other reason than a friend was in need, you truly are a credit to your house. Also I wanted to apologize for getting you hurt. You have been a true friend I hope to see you on September 1st._

_Harry._

_Dear Ginny,_

_It has been great getting to know you last year and in the DA, you are a good friend and you always have been (even if I haven't always known you were there). You were able to get me out of my bad moods better than anyone, you never let me wallow in self pity and for that I thank you. I realized over the summer that I really don't know you very well. I was hoping to be able to solve that. So, who is Ginny Weasley? What is your favorite food, class, and who is your current boyfriend? Come on I'm clueless here (no commenting, I know that cluelessness is almost a constant state of consciousness for me, ha)._

_Anyway, I also wanted to thank you for trusting me enough to follow me to the ministry this June. It meant a lot and I wont forget that. Also I want to say sorry for getting hurt there._

_Anyway its getting late and I want to send these off. You are a true friend, I don't want lose one of the only friends I have._

_Harry._

After the letters, Harry was emotionally drained for the night but decided to write to Remus now as he didn't think he would be able to write it tomorrow.

_Dear Remus,_

_I wanted to write sooner but wasn't able to put my thoughts to words yet. I wanted to say sorry, I know I was acting all moody from the loss of Sirius. I forgot that while I had known him for a few short years you had known him since you were in school and were probably hurting more than I was. Also thank you for talking with my 'family' they have been much better this summer._

_Harry._

Deciding to stop for the night Harry gave the letters to Hedwig to deliver before practicing his occulemency lessons and then going to sleep.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: I do not own Harry Potter

Also thanks to cjcold for his help.

Chapter 3

Waking up from a good night's sleep Harry looked over at Hedwig's cage and noticed she was still not back from delivering his messages. Ignoring a slightly nagging voice in his head saying that he had forgotten to do something Harry decided to go for his morning run and worry about whatever it was later.

Coming back half an hour later Harry walked past his desk noticing the documents he had been given from Gringotts, the little nagging voice came back and it finally hit him, he had not contacted Tonks at all. _Oh bugger, how could I have been so stupid? I am going to be married to her and I haven't tried to contact her. I know next to nothing about her._ Coming to decision he would have to do something about it Harry told himself that he would at least write her a letter today after Hedwig got back. As Hedwig was still gone though he decided to finish getting ready for the day, and preparing himself for what he was sure to be an exhausting day… at least mentally.

_After Lunch…_

Harry had just finished lunch and decided to shower before sitting down to what he was sure would be a mentally exhausting afternoon. Twenty minutes later he was back and physically ready to start. Sitting down at the desk he decided he would need to put a lot of thought into this letter.

_Hmm… ok so what do I know about her? She's smart, funny, a good dueler, very clumsy, and can change her physical appearance. So really about five to ten minutes of conversation. _As he was about to start writing the actual letter, a thought occurred to him. _She is definitely older than I am, so shouldn't she already know about the marriage, if she didn't then she could already be in a relationship, or possibly even engaged or married which would most likely be a violation of the contract. _Realizing he knew next to nothing about what was entailed in the marriage he decided he would write a letter to Tonks trying to get to know her better and not mention anything about the marriage especially since this really isn't something you put in a letter. (Yeah… Hey Tonks you know I just learned were gonna be married ain't it grand? Yeah… no not gonna work.) He also decided that he would have to owl Ragnot to see what information could be gathered from the goblin that had to have known about the contract for quite some time.

In his letter to Tonks he wrote…

_Dear Tonks,_

_I know you probably didn't expect to hear form me as I was wallowing in my own self-pity the last time you saw me. I also wanted to offer my condolences about Sirius, he was your cousin and you had known him far longer than I did. In my own grief I forgot that anyone else would be grieving too. For that I am sorry._

_Also, I wanted to ask you if you knew of any books that I could read during this summer, as I have a preternatural ability to attract trouble any books you could recommend that would teach me a few new spells that would me defend myself it would be greatly appreciated._

_Anyway, I just wanted to add that if you ever want to talk I'm here to listen. You were always nice to me last summer and the warning you gave to my relatives this summer has made my life much better while I am here. So I would like to get to know you better, if that's alright with you. _

_Your Hopeful friend,_

_Harry._

Deciding that this draft of the letter was as good as it was going to get, he set it aside to send when he wrote to Gringotts, so Hedwig would have to make fewer flights. In his letter to Ragnot he wrote…

_Dear Ragnot (or whomever this would be best addressed to),_

_This is Harry Potter, I was going over some of the things we discussed last week in our meeting and have a few questions about the contract that my parents set up with a young woman in regards to my arranged marriage (If this is not within your area of expertise please send to the appropriate office). I was going to write her but realized that I didn't know how much she knew about the marriage. I have several questions that I hope you can answer for me._

_Does she know of the marriage? If not can you please have someone from an appropriate office send her a notice._

_If she knows of the marriage does she know that I am the one she is being wed to? If not please have someone send her a letter that I have been informed of the contract but not who I am, if at all possible._

_Those were the specific questions that I have, however any other information that you could provide about the specifics of the contract would be greatly appreciated. _

_Harry Potter._

_P.S. I would greatly appreciate it if the woman's was left unidentified as with the current circumstances I have several enemies and would not want to place her in danger if this letter was intercepted._

Seeing that Hedwig still wasn't back from delivering her messages and that it was already mid-afternoon he decided that he would wait until tomorrow to send the messages so Hedwig would have enough time to rest after she got back.

Harry then got up from the desk, groaning under the sore muscles he had been trying to ignore for the last week. Realizing that it was becoming harder and harder to move after working out so much every day Harry decided to forgo learning new spells in order look make some of muscle relaxant potion he had found in his Potion's textbook. Reading the directions and ingredients of what was required he found that he had enough to make several batches with what he had on hand. Finishing the potion just before dinner, he drank the potion before going downstairs to brave his 'family.' Reaching the dining room Harry decided it would be a good time to bring up the other request he had made of his uncle.

"Uncle Vernon," Harry said in order to get Vernon's attention. Grunting in acknowledgment of Harry, Harry decided to press on. "I will need to go to the optometrist this weekend."

"What boy? And why should I do that?" Vernon asked.

"It was part of our agreement, I gave you the money in order for you to drive me to the sporting goods store and the optometrist. As soon you take me to the optometrist, whom I will pay for, our business agreement will come to an end." Harry stated in a forced calm as he was getting angry that his uncle might try to back out of there agreement.

"Fine boy, as it was part of our business agreement," at this Vernon sneered showing his contempt for the deal he had made with his nephew.

"Thank you Uncle," Harry replied before finishing his dinner and returning to his room to continue his studies.

_The Next Morning, Tuesday…_

Harry is woken up in the morning to Hedwig sitting at the end of his bed with a letter in her talon.

"Hello girl, did you just get back?" hearing a hoot in agreement Harry gave her some owl treats and retrieved the tied to talon. Hooting in contentment Hedwig flew over to her cage and promptly fell asleep.

Opening the letter he found it was from Luna.

_Dear Harry,_

_It was a pleasant surprise to hear from you. You needn't worry about the ministry I was fine. Daddy and I are in Switzerland hunting for the Crumple-horned Snorkaks, they are proving to be very illusive. I had Hedwig stay the night since she had such a long flight to get here. Anyway I must be going, were about to leave to find them again._

_Your friend,_

_Luna._

Chuckling to himself as he finished the letter he got ready for his morning work-out routine, telling himself that he would send the letters after lunch so that Hedwig could rest.

_After Lunch…_

Harry came back to his room after finishing his chores to see Hedwig was awake. Picking up his letters, he asked Hedwig to deliver the one to Tonks first before delivering Ragnot's letter. Deciding that the matter of the letters was closed for now or at least until a reply was received, Harry decided to work on his wandless magic control. His goal was to be able to summon, shield, and stun by the time he left Privet Drive as he didn't think that he would have as much time after he reached wherever it was he was staying. A few days ago he had come up with an exercise that had helped his control develop much more quickly. He would try to levitate himself to different heights by using more or less power. After slamming his head into the ceiling a few times he had an added incentive to progress faster. The amount of time he was able to float increased every day proving to himself at least that he was making progress.

After floating in place for about twenty minutes, his current limit, he stopped and began reading the books he brought back with him. Noticing the book he had bought about Metamorphagai he decided to read so he would have at least a little more to talk to Tonks about in his letters. As there were so few metamorphagai at any given time the book was fairly short, only about two hundred pages. With his advancing occulemency skills he had noticed that he was able to retain information better and absorb it at a faster rate. Before dinner had begun he found that he had finished the book. He did find one part of the book interesting as it listed a few ways to determine if someone was a metamorph.

_One of the common ways that a people have been identified as having some metamorphagus powers is hair growth or re-growth as the case may be. Commonly misconstrued as accidental magic, permanent hair re-growth is not possible. While potions can cause hair to change as desired, no spell is possible of permanently causing hair re-growth._

Remembering an event that had happened when he was younger, Harry had still been in primary school when his aunt had cut off all his hair before going to bed one night. The next morning he had gotten into trouble with his aunt when his hair had re-grown to its previous length, and had stayed that way, it was also the last hair-cut he could remember receiving. He had quickly begun reading the rest of the book in search of hints on how to try and consciously change an aspect of his self.

_The most commonly practiced ways of learning to change your body is to have a perfect image of what you look like. Also start small. Do not attempt to try and change anything complex for the first few times and only attempt a major change of your appearance in the audience of either a trained metamorph or at least someone highly skilled in transfiguration. _

_The first changes a beginning metamorph should attempt is something small like hair color or length, or nail length as those can be easily undone. The first step is to find a mirror and study your body part in great detail, memorize so that you can view it without the need to see it. Next, focus on the current state of the body part to the exclusion of all else, then begin to build up your magical energy and focus your magic into whatever part you want to change. Then visualize the slow change of what your body part looked like before to what you want it to look like. This is a long and slow process and is very rare to succeed on the first attempt so do not give up simply because the first attempt failed._

Excited about what he had learned Harry decided to get another one of Dudley's broken toys from the closet and transfigure it into a mirror. That accomplished he decided to change his hair as that was a constant source of frustration for him. He stood there for ten minutes simply studying his hair, deciding he had a firm enough picture in his mind of what his hair looked like, he closed his eyes and focused on building his magic into his hair while visualizing the change of his hair from black to a dirty blond. Opening his mind when he thought he was finished he looked in the mirror to only find minor changes to his hair color, it had lightened slightly but nowhere to the extent that he had planned. However, far from upset Harry was happy, he had managed the change even if only slightly proving that he had at least some metamorph capabilities. Harry spent the rest of his time before dinner practicing changing his hair color, having a little more success with each attempt.

After returning from dinner, Harry decided he had spent enough time on metamorphagus practice and decided to read one of the dueling books he had found in the Potter family vault. Reading through it he found several tactics he thought would be interesting to try out but as he had no opponent there was little he could do other than file away the knowledge. One tactic he found that would serve him well was when dueling to never stay in one place. He should move around and dodge just as much as he was shielding so that he would be able to save his energy and it would make him a bit more unpredictable. This was also a favored tactic because the book stated that many of the older magical families would stay stationary when dueling because it would allow them to cast faster and because dodging would require learning a form of muggle martial arts, something the pureblooded families looked down on as being inferior.

However, the hint he found most intriguing was that of silent casting. Silent casting was exactly that, casting without using the words. A fact that the book pointed out was that the words were largely irrelevant when casting a spell because a spell can do the same thing but be cast in a different language without affecting how it works or even the wand movements. The reason spells were taught with an incantation was because it would allow the student to use the words to form the intent behind the spell, annunciating the incantation correctly would give the user a way to properly focus the spell. The key behind casting silently was to fuel the spell with intent for control, and using emotions to make them more powerful.

Stopping there for the night Harry wanted to test his newfound knowledge of spell casting. Starting with simple spells such as the _lumos _spell he began. At first tried to simply will it to work, but was unsuccessful because he put little intent behind the spell, he wanted it to work but didn't try to use his emotions at all, thinking back to his wandless studies he remembered that the emotion was key to being able to cast any spell, emotions often affected a persons magic. Trying again Harry focused on what he wanted to happen, just like the changes he would make when morphing, and when combined with the happiness he felt at learning something new he was able to cast _lumos_, a week light was all that was produced but a light did emit from his wand so he was satisfied if not happy with his results.

Seeing the time Harry decided to practice his occulemency before going to sleep for the night. Having still had little progress with the creation of permanent shields in his mind Harry had read further into the book and found that he first needed to sort through his memories. Creating categories in his mind, sections such as school, fun, personal and other things were categories he sorted his memories into. So every night before he went to sleep Harry would slowly organize everything that had happened during the day and then proceed to try to organize his memories, starting with his earliest ones and the working to the present. Finishing the exercise he went to sleep awaiting the replies he would receive from his letters.

_Wednesday Morning…_

Waking up Harry saw that Hedwig was once again at the end of his bed carrying a letter. Untying the letter, Harry Hedwig some food and water before he left to go on his morning run. Once he returned he sat down to read the letter before continuing with his morning routine. The letter he discovered was a reply to his inquiry at Gringotts.

_Greetings Mr. Potter,_

_My name is Crummis, Head of magical contracts at Gringotts. Ragnot forwarded your letter on to me, any other requests that you have about your marriage contract can be addressed to me._

_Anyway in answer to your questions, the woman named was notified prior to her 17th birthday that she was part of an arranged marriage. She does not know the name of her suitor, according to all marriage contracts it is the duty of the male to contact the bride and introduce himself. Also as you informed in your parents will you have to wed no later than your 17th birthday. The final part of the contract is: now that you have been made aware of said contract you must notify your betrothed of your identity within four weeks of the current date._

_Also as per your request we sent a letter to your bride that you have now been notified of the contract and that you would be in contact with her soon._

_Crummis,_

_Head of magical contracts._

Finding some comfort in the reply Harry now knew that not only did Tonks know of the marriage but he still had some time to figure out how best to tell her when he next met her. One thing was certain though, he would have to tell her soon.

_Same Time, Tonks POV…_

Nymphadora Tonks was just waking up in her apartment. Opening her eyes to the sound of an incessant tapping on the windows she looked over and saw a regal looking owl at her window. Getting out of bed she opened the window allowing the owl in where she untied the letter upon which the owl immediately took flight and left.

Seeing the Gringotts seal she opened the letter to read…

_Dear Ms. Nymphadora Tonks,_

_I am Crummis, head of magical contracts at Gringotts. As such it is my duty as per the agreement of the marriage contract, that you were notified of before your 17th birthday, your betrothed has now become aware of the contract and it is his duty to inform him of his identity. A task that he must accomplish within four weeks of the current date._

_Crummis,_

_Head of Magical Contracts_

Becoming upset at the reminder that her parents had arranged a marriage between her and some mystery man, her day was effectively ruined as that was not news that she was looking forward to. Looking over she saw the letter that had been delivered to her from Harry yesterday. As she was in no mood to do anything other than rant at the moment she decided to take it out on Harry, as he had offered and she really didn't want her Auror friends to know of this.

_Wotcher Harry,_

_I wanted to say thank you for the apology, as unneeded as it may have been, it was still a thoughtful thing to do. Anyway a book I would recommend would be _Magical Dueling: An Auror's Guide to Combat. _However, since that book is classified for Aurors only you will have to wait until I can meet with you (gonna be on July 31, two more weeks), since sending that book to any unauthorized person would be a big no no for me._

_Anyway I hope you were serious about willing to listen. So you wanted to know about me? Huh… well let's see I am six years older than you, that's right I was a 7th year when you started at Hogwarts, a Ravenclaw. You know I am an Auror, have been for a few years. I am a metamorphagus. Hmm… now what else? Oh yes I know, no boyfriend not that I could have one anyway. Bet you wonder what that means huh? Well my parents decided to arrange a marriage for me. Usually I can get through the day without worrying about it, but not today, nooo I just got a letter from Gringotts this morning telling me that my mysterious betrothed was just informed of the marriage, so that means that he is probably younger than me by a few years. And, now I find out that I have to wait for this guy to tell me who he is._

_Sorry for ranting but I really needed this, and hey that's what friends are for right?_

_Your Friend,_

_Tonks._

Still too upset to care she grabs her owl and sends her letter before she can reconsider sending it.

_Later that Afternoon, Harry POV…_

Harry had been working on his morphing changes when he came to the realization that the four main exercises he did were all related to how well he could focus his mind and magic. Coming to that realization he decided to focus solely on those areas of study until he had a greater degree of mastery on them as they all reinforced the others allowing him to progress faster. While this did not mean that Harry would stop his reading, he would no longer practice what he read if did not apply to the progression of his other studies (Occulemency, wandless magic, metamorphagus training, and silent casting). These studies also had the added side effect of giving him a greater control of his emotions, he was now able to recognize the emotion and repress or help it grow as the situation dictated.

It was still a few hours until dinner, when an unfamiliar owl flew in his window carrying a letter. Removing the letter he offered the owl treats and water before it flew back out the window. Opening the letter he found that it was from Tonks and while she did answer some questions for him, she was decidedly angry at the turn of events that the letter from Gringotts had brought about. Now he had a whole other problem to deal with. She was basically angry at not only her parents but him, unknowingly as the case may be, but she was still angry and she was confiding in him about something that he was a part of and that he had little to no control over. Deciding that he should write a letter that would hopefully calm her down enough so that she wouldn't hex him into next year the next time she saw him, if she learned that he knew all along and didn't tell her. He also decided that with current turn of events he probably wouldn't be able to wait until his Birthday, she was upset and it would only grow with time.

_Dear Tonks,_

_Well that letter was informative… to say the least. And Yes I did mean what I said about being willing to listen. Okay so as you've shared a little about yourself lets see what I can say about me that I can share. Hmm… I am 15 going on 16; I am a mediocre student at least if you look at my grades. Although granted I am usually involved in some plot to get killed every year so that really does cut down on study time, so I may be a much better student, not really sure I'll have to get back to you on that one. I am rumored to be certifiably insane half the time, but a good case can be made for that diagnosis so who knows it might be true. Other than that you know most of what is going on in my life or at least the major aspects, I doubt you care what food I like best or that I think Malfoy makes a good ferret._

_Now on to the matter that you so delicately described for me in the letter (All sarcasm aside I really am happy you felt you could trust me with this information.). Okay so you are in an arranged marriage, now while this probably sucks and you are not happy about do you really think your parents would arrange for you to marry someone who they didn't know and like, someone who they hoped would treat you the way you deserved. Knowing what I do of your mother, she went against her family to marry a muggleborn, showing that she probably wouldn't marry you off to a complete stranger. You may even know the person. And if you still don't know who he is I am not completely surprised, this isn't the sort of thing you put in a letter (Hey, I know you may or may not know me but were gonna be husband and wife. No I just can't see that happening, well unless you're the twins but they're not normal.). Also if your betrothed is younger than your by as many years as you think, then you should be able to train him into the perfect husband, just think of the possibilities. Now I know this probably isn't much help to you but I don't know how much help I can be in a letter, if you want to come over and talk your more than welcome besides I have training that you alone could help me with._

_Write back soon or visit, Your Friend,_

_Harry._

Hoping that was good enough, Harry sent the letter out with Hedwig before returning to his wandless magic studies. Harry had progressed to the point that he could hover at any height as long as it didn't require too much magical energy. He also started working on the _stupefy _curse so that he would have at least one offensive wandless spell to use if he was ever in a duel and lost his wand. The curse was almost powerful enough to stun the animals he had transfigured. He definitely needed to work on it. Harry then decided to try and finish categorizing his mind, it was possible that he would need to be able to shield his mind sooner than he thought so he really needed to organize his mind so that he could create his shields, he only had two more weeks before he would have to talk to Dumbledore and he still wasn't sure how much he could trust the man after everything that had happened in the last year.

After dinner that night Harry went back to organizing his mind, making it all the way up to the beginning of his fifth year before falling asleep.

_Thursday Morning…_

Harry woke up to Pig flying around the room with several letters tied to his claws and Hedwig voicing her disapproval at the annoying little bird. Untying the letters from both Hedwig and Pig Harry put them aside to read after his morning workout.

His workout had been progressing quickly since he began. He was now able to run longer, lift more weight for more reps, and his reflexes had dramatically improved since he started his boxing training with Dudley, while still not a match for Dudley in strength he was faster and more agile than Dudley and was able to hold his own for several minutes. Finishing his workout and chores Harry returned to his room to read the letters.

The letters from Pig were from Ron, Ginny and Hermione.

_Dear Harry,_

_Its good to hear from you mate. Its good to know that your dealing with what happened last year. Don't worry, all the scars from the brains have been removed and there were no lingering side effects. So I'm all good here. We've been staying at the same place as last summer. We still have to clean the house all day, even with all the cleaning we did last summer the house is still filthy. Anyway Hermione is here with us and has been going on non-stop about the OWLs, she's like the smartest witch in school and she still worries that she's not going to pass. Mental that one. Anyway you should be joining us on your Birthday mate, so only a little longer and then you can get out of there._

_Ron._

Ron's letter had been nothing out of the ordinary. But it was still nice to hear that he was doing well and that he would be joining him soon.

_Dear Harry,_

_Of course you're still my friend; you didn't force me to follow you. We went to the ministry of our own free will and we would do it again. Are you sure that you're alright with Sirius passing away, he was your godfather and he was one of the last links to your parents so it would be alright if you're still mourning._

_And hey I did not faint when I read that you were studying, Ron almost did but that was to be expected. Anyway what was with that letter to Ginny, it sounded as if you like her. Come on she expects me to know these things if I am your best friend, you can just surprise me with these things._

_See you soon, your friend,_

_Hermione._

Now that was surprising, he would have to think back to what he wrote Ginny he didn't think it was flirtatious in any way, but then again how much practice did he have in that area?

_Dear Harry,_

_It was nice to hear from you, I had fun getting to know you better last year too. And yes I agree you are clueless so I will put you out of your misery and answer whatever questions you had. My favorite food is chocolate cake, we get it so little that I crave it whenever I can get it. My favorite class is charms, Flitwick is a fun professor and very friendly so he makes it very easy to learn. I am playing in your position on the Quidditch team but I would much rather be a chaser. And as you asked I am currently not dating anyone, I know I said something about Dean, but that was more to make Ron angry than anything else._

_So as I answered your questions you have to answer some of mine. How are you really? Normally whenever someone asks you that you respond with 'I'm fine,' so we never really know. So do you have any girl you're interested in? _

_Anyway, Mom is calling us to come eat dinner, so write back soon._

_Your friend,_

_Ginny._

OK, so that was nice letter and it really did answer his questions. That part about Dean was unexpected. He would definitely have to careful as to how he responded to her letter because he really didn't want to make her think he was interested in her as anything more than a friend, besides he thought Hermione said that Ginny was over him.

While he had been reading these letters another owl had come by with a letter. This letter turned out to be from Neville.

_Dear Harry,_

_Thank you for writing me. Other than the broken nose I got from the fight I was fine after it was healed and a night in the hospital wing. My Gran was upset that I broke my dad's wand but she was happy that I 'finally showed why I was put in Gryffindor.' She even took me out to buy a new wand, I can now perform spells even easier. So I should be able to do better class. I'll see you soon._

_Neville._

Harry was happy that Neville hadn't gotten into too much trouble with his reportedly very scary grandmother. He was also that he had a new wand and was finally able to stand up with pride around his grandmother.

The last letter Harry had received was carried by Hedwig meaning that it most likely came from Tonks. With some apprehension Harry opened the letter and began to read.

_Wotcher Harry,_

_That was a quick reply, I didn't really expect one back after I just ranted to you the whole time, I was being pretty snarky, but damnit that letter from Gringotts really pissed me off. I know what you are saying and while it makes sense that my mum wouldn't put me in a marriage with a complete bastard. Still it still sucks that I am going to be married to someone that I still don't know. But I do understand that this isn't something that you put in a letter so I'll try to reign in my anger at not knowing._

_Anyway I think I will come visit you, sometime Sunday. You said you needed my specific help on something? Now what could that be? You're not keeping secrets now are you? Anyway see you soon._

_Your Friend,_

_Tonks._


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: I do not own Harry Potter

Chapter 4

The next three days flew by for Harry as he waited in both anticipation and an ever-growing sense of fear, of his meeting with Tonks.

After finishing his letter from Tonks he had spent the rest of the evening working on categorizing the memories of his fifth year plus what had happened this summer so far, he then began working on his mind shields, he had been only been able to create a fairly weak shield but it was permanent which would allow him to strengthen it later without having to rebuild the shield. While categorizing his mind Harry created another category that was filled with useless information. This was useful so that anyone who was able to break into his mind would have to sort through useless memories allowing him more time to throw them out or redirect them.

The two days following Tonks' letter Harry spent working out and studying at a frenzied pace so his mind wouldn't stay focused on the upcoming meeting. In that time, he finally succeeded in summoning things of small to moderate sizes wandlessly, along with create a decent stunning spell; something that he was especially thankful for. He had also managed to get his hair to both change color and length simultaneously in what he felt was a decent amount of time. He had also made some progress with his silent casting and his progress in transfiguration was amazing since he was able to visualize the changes in great detail due to his metamorphmagus training.

His physical workout was going well too, he now had more stamina than before allowing the training sessions to go on for longer periods of time. This didn't mean he was able to box Dudley with any great success, it just meant that he was able to take a beating longer.

During this time he had also received a reply from Remus.

_Dear Harry,_

_It was nice to hear from you. Don't worry about what you were like; you had a right to be upset too. You're right I knew him for longer but I had already been able to get over his loss once; the mourning process is easier this time. Besides I know for a fact that he died in a way that he would have wanted, he went out fighting. He also died doing something that he considered more important than his life, he died protecting you. He always considered you a son and would have done anything to protect you. Don't get stuck mourning his passing he wouldn't want us to; he would want us to continue to live life to the fullest._

_You're Friend,_

_Moony._

Harry had felt strangely comforted after reading the letter, he supposed it had to do with the fact that he knew Sirius better than anyone; and if he said that Sirius wouldn't have wanted him to mourn his passing, he really should honor that and learn so that he could finally destroy Voldemort once and for all allowing him to finally move on with his life.

The last thing he had done before the meeting was go to the optometrist. There he had found that his glasses were old and the prescription was horribly out of date. He ended up getting a pair of contacts and glasses. The glasses he got because the doctor told him that he would need to have something to use when his contacts were being cleaned. He got contacts because he realized that his glasses were a liability in a fight, they could easily fall off or be summoned and then he would be unable to see his opponent to be able to fight effectively.

It was now Sunday afternoon and he had already done his morning workout and was now sitting in his room trying to read a book to distract himself from the fact that he about to have what he was sure was going to be a life changing discussion whether the other person knew it or not.

It was a nerve-wracking two hours before Tonks showed up at the house at three in the afternoon.

Hearing the doorbell ring, Harry opened his bedroom door to see who it was when he heard "Boy! Get down here!"

Harry came downstairs and, in the doorway, he saw Tonks wearing a fitting pair blue jeans, a yellow Weird Sisters shirt that hugged her nicely and her customary pink hair. "Hey Tonks."

"Wotcher Harry; can I come in?"

Still nervous Harry replied "Actually no. It would probably be best if went somewhere else. There's a small shopping center with a couple restaurants in it? We can go there."

"Sure, why not," Tonks replied, as she moved out the doorway to allow Harry to exit.

With a grateful nod Harry responded, "Thanks Tonks, my relatives are better this summer, but I don't think they'd appreciate having a witch in the house if they don't have to."

"No problem Harry."

For the next twenty minutes Harry and Tonks walked towards the center talking about innocuous subjects. All the while Tonks noticed that Harry was nervous, she just couldn't figure out why.

Reaching the restaurant they decided to eat at Tonks said "Relax Harry, were just here to talk, this isn't a date. I'm off the market remember?"

Not replying immediately, Harry allowed himself and Tonks, to be led to a table before muttering "I wouldn't be so sure of that."

With a look of surprise on her face Tonks said, "Why's that? I'm in an arranged marriage and unless you're the one I'm betrothed to, nothing can happen between us."

Just looking at her with a look of shock, and a little apprehension; Harry said nothing but Tonks was able to make the connection. "Oh god. Please tell me you're joking. You're only 15; I'm six years older than you… Wait you knew," Her tone changing from shocked to accusatory. "All this time and you knew. I wrote you those letters thinking you were safe and now I find out that you are the guy I have to marry." She said in a forced whisper to avoid the stares that they were drawing.

"I'm sorry Tonks, no joke," he said while pantomiming for her to calm down. "Tonks, I didn't really find out all that long ago. I mean, I went to Gringotts last Saturday and found out that I'm in an arranged marriage. I would've told you sooner but this really isn't something that I could put in a letter."

"Yeah but still you knew, were you even planning on telling me any time soon, or were you just gonna let me not know while you kept this information to yourself?" she said angrily.

"Yes, fine, I knew, but not for long and I was planning on telling you when I got to Grimmauld place where I could talk to you in private. This wasn't exactly what I had planned on either. I've only been on one date, which was a disaster by the way, and now I find out that not only am I getting married but to an older woman, but one that I hardly know. Its not like I planned this, I was just as shocked as you were when I found out that my parents had arranged a marriage for me.

"Look Tonks, I have a copy of my parents will in my room that I can show you later. But among other things it basically says that my parents and your parents arranged a marriage between us."

Overcoming her shock and anger momentarily she finally said "Why Harry? From what I heard your parents would never have done this to you. Your father went against pureblood tradition to marry a muggleborn just like my mum did. Why would they do this?"

"Why did they choose your family or why did they arrange a marriage?" Harry asked, with a calm voice realizing that he would need to lead this conversation as Tonks was still in shock.

"Both."

"My parents chose your family because they were still technically from an old family, even if your mother had been disowned from the Black family. And because my parents trusted Sirius and knew what your mother was like. As to why they arranged a marriage for me; it's a little more complicated, you might want to get comfortable," Harry said.

After she settled down to listen he continued. "Essentially my parents are the ones that asked for the arranged marriage in the first place. It turns out that my mother was not really a muggleborn. She was the descendant of a long line of squibs that descended from a very noble and previously thought lost family. When she was in her seventh year she did a family tree of the person who was credited for making that family famous. She was able to trace that person's heirs to the current time. She found that she was the only surviving heir to that family and when she went to Gringotts to claim anything that was left; she found she had entered a binding magical contract that said her first child would have to be involved in an arranged marriage with an old family. My mother was not specific in the will as to why the marriage was a must; just that it was something that had to be done."

"So because your mother claimed the right as heir of the unnamed family, she was placed in a contract that would force her to put you in a marriage, and they chose my family. Right so far?"

"Yes…"

"So who was your mother the heir of?"

"You were part of her house in school." Harry said instead of a direct answer.

"My house in school? I was in Ravenclaw, so that would mean that you are the heir of…"

"Rowena Ravenclaw," Harry said with a slight smile.

"Your not joking are you?" she said in a slightly stunned voice.

"No, I'm completely serious."

"Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit; this is a lot to take in right now."

"I know, how do you think I felt when I found out?"

"What do you mean?" Tonks said.

"I learned of this last Saturday, when I went to Gringotts. I mean, I didn't even know there was a will that needed to be read. I show up wanting to get some money from my vault so that I can buy some stuff this summer and I'm told that I have a will reading to go to. Once there I find out that not only did Sirius leave me the bulk of his estate but my parents had a will. Then their will goes on and says that, not only am I the Potter heir but also the, Ravenclaw heir, and I'm suddenly in an arranged marriage with someone that I had only met last summer; and even then I hadn't talked to her very much."

Somewhat mollified, she said, "Yeah ok, but you still knew while I was writing you about that marriage. Why didn't you say anything?" she said grumbling still not wanting to let go of her anger.

"I knew of the marriage, but like I said in the letter this isn't really something you put in a letter. But if it makes you feel any better I do think I'm getting the better end of the deal?"

"Oh yeah, why's that?" she asked in a petulant tone.

"Well all you get from this is me; a skinny boy with a dark lord who likes to try and kill him. I get a woman who is smart, funny, not in awe of me like most people, your not afraid to tell me I'm being an arse; obviously, and last but not least you're a very beautiful woman."

"Yeah you and every man think I'm pretty, but just like them you will ask me to change after a while," Tonks grumbled while looking at the floor not intending for Harry to hear and still being upset over this whole thing.

"A lot of men have asked you to change your form?" With a small amount of surprise. "Well they're stupid. You're very pretty as you are. But if it will make you happy, how 'bout we make a deal?"

"What kind of deal?" she said still not looking up.

"I won't ask you to change your form if you don't ask me to change mine." Harry said.

"Huh?" Tonks said as she finally looked up. "What do you mean?"

"I'm a metamorph Tonks, just like you. I found out only a few days ago when I was reading a book about them," Harry said trying to keep his voice low during this part as the waitress was coming up.

They took a moment to place their order before continuing the discussion. Tonks continued, "So that's what you meant in the letter."

"Yes."

"Are you sure? Have you tried any changes yet?"

"Yes," he said while extending his hands so she could see him change the length of his fingernails.

"You're serious aren't you? How did you find out?"

"Of course I'm serious. I found out when the book I was reading said that a common identifier was that the person could grow or re-grow their hair and make it permanent. When I was little my aunt cut off all my hair, and then when I woke up the next morning I found all my hair had re-grown."

"I saw something on your hand though. What was it." she asked curious about the lines she had seen on his hand.

"What?" Harry asked as he started to pull his hands off the table so she couldn't see the scars.

"Harry let me see? I'm an auror; I'm trained to see things. Your hiding something." She said going serious.

"No I'm not, it's nothing, just some scratches."

"If they were just scratches then you wouldn't be hiding your hands from me. Now let me see. Look for better or worse we're going to be married. We need to be able to trust each other."

"Fine," Harry grumbled while bringing his hands into sight so she could see.

Looking at his hands she saw marks on his hands. After looking at them for a while she saw that the marks formed words. Able to read the words after a while she murmured "I will not tell lies. What? Harry, why are these words here?" she asked while still not letting go of his hands.

Saved from answering for a moment the waitress arrived with their food.

"Harry?" she asked still not letting the matter drop.

In a quiet voice Harry answered "I got them in Umbridge's detentions. She made me use a quill that used my own blood to write lines into my hand."

Gasping she said, "Harry, are you telling me she used a blood quill on you?"

"I guess. If that's what they're called," He said still using a quiet voice.

"Harry, what she did was illegal. Using a blood quill is classified as torture. How many times did she do this to you? Why didn't you tell anyone?"

"She did this to me every detention, I had several a month. I didn't tell anyone because I thought Dumbledore would already know, as he seemingly knows everything that happens in the castle, besides he wouldn't even look at me last year. And the first time I was given detention and sent to McGonagall with a note, she told me that I had to keep quiet because Umbridge had the power and that we all could get in trouble for speaking out."

"Harry, even though they said that you still should have told someone. I'm not excusing what they did, what McGonagall told you was wrong. She's old enough to know that there is a difference between doing what's right and what's easy.

"Harry, I need to go into auror mode right now, ok?"

"Ok…" he said hesitantly.

"Did she use this on anyone else during the year?"

"I know she used it on at least one other person in Gryffindor, but I'm not sure about the other houses."

"Ok Harry, when we're done here. I'm going to need to write this up. She needs to be charged with this, she did something that was incredibly illegal and she did it on children."

"No, I don't want anyone to know."

"Harry, she needs to be brought to justice, otherwise she'll continue to be able to do this. If not for yourself then do it for the others that have been hurt by her."

"Fine. Just leave me out of it."

"I'll try Harry but I may need you to testify against her if we can't find anyone else willing to testify."

"Fine," Harry grumbled looking upset.

Coming out of his depression slightly he changed the subject "Back to the whole marriage thing. I know you probably don't want to talk about it but I think we need to."

"What about it?"

"Well, I know next to nothing about you, and hardly anything about me that's public knowledge is crap anyways; so I was hoping we could start getting to know one another. I was hoping we could do this by having you train me in my metamorphmagus abilities. Also don't worry about having to marry anytime soon. We still have a little over a year before the ceremony has to take place. The last part of the contract says that we have to be married by my seventeenth birthday, so there's still some time."

"Good to know, the letter from Gringotts said nothing about when this would have to happen, so yeah I guess we can make a go of this."

"So you'll help me with my training then too?" Harry asked relieved that she was taking this so well and that they were getting away from their previous discussion.

"Your metamorph training? Yeah I'll help you with that"

"I have some questions though. Where does this leave us? I mean yeah we'll be married in a year but what about now? Do I tell people about us?" Harry asked.

"You can tell your friends about us if you want but I would prefer this to remain quiet. If people find out then they'll want to know why. I don't think you want people to know about being Ravenclaw's heir, if they did then you'd be given even more publicity than you get now. But same question to you; do you think I should tell anyone about this?"

"I wouldn't object to you telling your friends as long as you think they can be trusted not to tell anyone. But be careful who you tell because Voldemort is still after me personally, and if he finds out about you then he will try to get you."

"Why would he try to get me? Or why is he after you for that matter?"

"You really don't know, do you?"

"Know what?" she asked genuinely confused right now.

Silently debating whether or to tell her about the prophesy, he came to a decision and asked "What do you about what the Order was guarding last year?"

"All we were told was that we were guarding a weapon that You-Know-Who wanted."

"That's partially true. What you were really guarding was a prophecy that was made shortly before I was born. _The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches... born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies... and the Dark Lord will mark him as equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not... and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives... the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies…_ Dumbledore knew this all along. Voldemort wanted this because he only heard the first part and he thought it would tell him how to kill me. He marked me as his equal with this scar on my forehead. He knows the first part and knows that by failing to kill me I will become his equal."

When he finished Harry looked over at Tonks to see her mouth hanging open. "Bloody hell Harry, so you're the only one who can kill You-Know-Who. No wonder he's always coming after you. But wait, you said Dumbledore knew about this all along?" seeing a nod in confirmation she continued. "Has he given you any extra training? I mean if you're the only one who can defeat You-Know-Who, then why are you here, shouldn't you have been learning to become more powerful?"

"Probably, but Dumbledore decided it was in my best interest to not tell me until right after Sirius died. He said he wanted to give me a 'normal childhood.' Although, how living here, where I was forced to sleep in the cupboard under the stairs until I got my Hogwarts letter, was considered a normal childhood I'll never know."

"W-what?" she stammered.

Not really wanting to discuss this right now, but knowing that if they were really going to make this work he would have to be honest with her. "You can't tell anyone about this Tonks, I'm only telling you because you said we needed to trust each other. Ok?" he asked. After getting a nod in acceptance he continued, "My whole life, after Voldemort died the first time, was spent as a servant to the Dursley's. I slept under the stairs. I cooked, cleaned, did all the chores, basically did the work of House Elves until I got my Hogwarts letter. All the rumors of me having a perfect home-life, all the stuff that Snape wants to believe about me being a spoiled brat are all bullshit. I have been given nothing since I was sent there. The clothes I was wearing until a week ago? Were all hand-me-downs from Dudley. I've never had anything new for myself, at least nothing that I didn't have to buy for myself. While my cousin was spoiled beyond belief, I never had a birthday party, or a gift of any kind from them except a dirty sock or other trash." Harry said as it just poured out of him. It was strange, he had never told anyone about it before and now that he finally had, he felt free, like he was no longer burdened.

Horrified at what she had learned, she was unable to talk for a while, so Harry just sat there and ate his food. When the ability to talk returned to her she said, "Harry why didn't you tell anyone? Why not tell Dumbledore?"

"I didn't want or need anyone's pity. As for Dumbledore I wouldn't doubt it if he knew. He was the one who put me there and then left me there. He didn't even come to check up on me. He's also the reason I have to come back every summer. He said I'm safe here."

Still too shocked to say anything she simply lowered her eyes and concentrated on finishing her food. The rest of their time was spent silently eating and contemplating everything that had been said during their conversation. Finally the meal was over and they left the restaurant after having paid for their food.

After walking for a few minutes Tonks finally broke the silence "I'm sorry Harry, I didn't mean to drag all that stuff up. I never knew."

With a drawn out sigh Harry replied, "It's ok Tonks, you never could've known. So don't worry about it."

Nothing was said after that for a while until Tonks looked over at Harry with a mischievous glint in her eyes and said "So Harry, you said something about disastrous dating adventures?"

Groaning Harry blushed and said "Tonks I really don't want to talk about how bad my previous date went."

"Ah, come on Harry. It couldn't have been that bad. Please?" she said with big pleading eyes.

"Argh, Fine but you have to tell me about yours dating life too."

"No problem mate."

Harry told Tonks about his date with Cho, and got laughed at for what he did. After which he had learned that she would rarely date as all the guys she had gone out with acted as the perfect boyfriend for the first week or two and then would ask her to change her appearance to anything; from the newest singer or even once this guys mother (talk about Oedipus complex).

The rest of the afternoon was spent with Harry and Tonks walking the area of Little Whinging and talking about anything and everything slowly learning about the other person.

Going to sleep that night, both Harry and Tonks fell asleep (separate houses, they aren't that in the relationship yet) with a little smile on their face, thinking that maybe, just maybe everything would work out for the both of them.

A/N I know I said that Harry was doing better than this in the physical training but after some reviews I came to agree that he was progressing too quickly in that area.

Also wanted to thank cjcold for the ideas and Yenom and danielc as my betas.


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: I do not own Harry Potter

Chapter 5

Waking up the next morning Harry went on his morning run; did his workout session with Dudley, before showering and returning to his room. When he entered his room, he went to his desk to pick up the book he had been reading the night before, when he knocked off a stack of parchment. Picking them up, he noticed that they contained the letters from his friends that he had received over the summer. Realizing that he had forgotten to write letters to them, in his nervousness over Tonks visit, he decided that he would forgo reading up on new spells and write to them.

In his letters to Ron, Luna, and Neville; Harry wrote short letters saying that he was fine and that he was looking forward to seeing them again when school started, or in Ron's case when Harry went to Number 12 Grimmauld Place. The letter to Ron was understandably short; as Ron had never been one to write lengthy letters, and was unable to put anything emotional into words.

At the same time Ron was reading his letter, two other people in the house had received letters from Harry as well, his long-time friend, Hermione, and his newfound friend, Ginny.

In the room both girls were sharing the younger girl opened her letter and read:

_Dear Ginny,_

_Yes I am really doing fine; I've had some interesting surprises over the summer so far but for the most part they have been good. Hopefully I now have your curiosity piqued, but as with most things you will just have to wait to see what I mean. Some things just can't be said in a letter._

_So the youngest Weasley is showing that she is capable of making the twins proud at pranking/irritating her brothers (If your intent was to infuriate Ron you definitely succeeded, he was quite upset that you already had a new boyfriend). Who would've guessed that the quiet girl I've known was capable of being devious. _

_So now that we know that your single you want to know about my romantic interests, hmm? Well, I guess that's fair. Currently I am not looking at anyone for a relationship but there is someone I am trying to get closer to. I know that makes little sense but this is another thing that will just have to be explained later. So see we now have lots to talk about when I get to where you're staying._

_You're Friend,_

_Harry._

Ginny was now very confused. After she read the last letter from Harry it had seemed that he was beginning to not only see her as a friend outside of Ron's little sister, but it looked like he was clumsily flirting with her. Now with this letter she really didn't know what was going on. He had said that he wasn't looking for a relationship but was trying to get to know someone better. She was the only one she knew of that he was trying to befriend, so did that mean she was the one he wanted to get to know better and was he hinting at something more. _Damn, that boy is confusing, he never lets on what he's thinking until he's ready to tell you. So now I have to wait before he is going to tell me what he meant._

While Ginny was growing ever more confused with the infuriating Boy-Who-Lived, the Gryffindor bookworm, Hermione Granger was reading Harry's letter to her.

_Dear Hermione,_

_I can't say how happy and relieved I am that you are still willing to talk to me, you have no idea how worried I was that you wouldn't want to be around me after last year. And, yes, I really am doing fine, it took me a little while to realize it, but I do finally understand that not everything that happens is my fault, so while Sirius' death still hurts it will just take time to get past it._

_Now, what is this about me liking Ginny? What was it in the letter that made it seem that I liked her like that? I mean yeah she is a very pretty girl and under other circumstances wouldn't mind dating her, but things have changed since the end of term that makes dating an impossibility for me. No, I won't tell you what changed. At least not in a letter, when I get to where you are we can sit down and have a nice long interrogation of me about everything that you need/want to know, ok? But I do need you to try and convince her that I see her as only a friend, I like her but not as a boy likes a girl type of like. I don't want to lose her as a friend due to a misunderstanding._

_Can't wait to see you again,_

_Harry._

Now Hermione was confused as well, she thought that after the last letter to Ginny, Harry might just be interested in Ginny. Now with this letter it seems that any hints that he might like Ginny in the last letter were unintentional and he did not feel that way regardless. Looking up from her own letter she saw Ginny looking confused and wanting to talk.

"Ginny?" Hermione asked tentatively.

"Yeah?"

"You ok? You look confused."

"I don't know. It seemed like he might actually like me as more than a friend but now I don't know. He asked me in the last letter if I have a boyfriend. I thought that he might like me and was just trying to find out if I was unattached. Was I wrong to think that? Is he just playing with me? I know that you told him that I was moving on, but that doesn't mean I wouldn't go out with him if he asked." She said all at once.

"I don't get it either. I thought the same thing you did when you showed me the letter. When I asked him if he really liked you, he responded with confusion, so I really don't think that he was playing with you, whatever Harry might be he is not purposefully hurtful. He didn't know what he had said that could be construed as him liking you. He said that you were a pretty girl and that otherwise he might try to date you but he couldn't do that now. He didn't say why though."

"He said that he wasn't looking for a girlfriend but that he was trying to get to know someone better. Do you think he could mean me?"

"I don't know Ginny. In his letter to me he said that he really wanted you as a friend but not a girlfriend. I'm sorry Ginny, I really can't tell you what's going on, but he did say that he would answer our questions once he got here." She said in consolation.

"So all we can do is wait?"

"I guess, wait and write him back trying to get some answers. The best advice I can give you is to write him back without hinting that you might like him, just become that friend that he wants and see what comes from there."

After Ginny agreed to do that they both sat down at their desks and began to write letters to Harry; one hoping to get more information and one trying to become a friend.

Meanwhile Tonks had woken up and let her mind flash back to the time of when she had learned of the marriage contract.

**Begin Flashback**

_It was her seventeenth birthday and she was in the dorms of Ravenclaw celebrating with a few friends. She had just opened the second bottle of butterbeer that she and her friends had snuck into the castle when professor Flitwick entered and called her to him saying that her parents had come and she needed to go to the headmaster's office to speak with them._

_Her curiosity aroused she followed the diminutive professor until she had reached the gargoyle guarding the headmaster's office. Once inside she saw her parents standing next to the Headmaster Dumbledore wearing a nervous expression that she couldn't place. Walking over to her mother and father she gave them a hug as they wished her a happy birthday._

"_Nymphadora?" her mother half asked._

"_Yeah." She responded._

"_You're father and I have some news that we need to share with you," she said in voice that indicated she was worried about the news._

_With a feeling of dread filling her she nodded for her mother to continue._

_However, it was her father who started speaking next. "There's really no easy way to say this, but 11 years ago shortly after you had turned six years old we were approached by an old wizarding family. To put it simply they asked for your hand in marriage to their son." Pausing to look at his daughter he could see the look of dread appearing on her features before continuing. "After a great deal of discussion we accepted."_

_The look of shock on her face was rivaled only by the growing rage on her features. "What? How could you?" she yelled._

_With a pleading look in her eyes Nymphadora's mother Andromeda said, "Please, just calm down. I'll try to explain."_

_Deciding to humor them she sulkily sat down in a chair and prepared to listen._

"_The family that approached was a friend of ours and said that because of a family tradition that in order for their son to claim his rights as heir he had to be placed in a marriage to an old family. We told them that I had been disowned but they said that the lineage was all that was important not whether or not we were still legally part of the family. They told us that they had asked us because we were friends with them, and they wanted there son to be able to wed someone who would be from a family that wouldn't be looking at this as solely a business transaction. They wanted it to be so that their son could grow up with you so he could hopefully become friends with you, so that it hopefully wouldn't be a loveless marriage."_

"_Fine Mum, I understand that they needed to have their son in an arranged marriage, and I know why you accepted, but I really don't like it… But I do have one question."_

_Relieved that their daughter wasn't going to go on shouting at them, they indicated to her to ask her question._

"_Who am I supposed to marry and why do you always refer to the other family in the past tense?"_

"_Because of the contract we can't tell you who your marrying, you're betrothed has to do that. As to why we use past tense with the other family is because they were killed shortly before the fall of You-Know-Who. We know that the son survived the attack but he was sent off to live with his relatives, which is why you haven't met him yet."_

_Unhappy but satisfied with their answers Nymphadora got up from her chair and walked out of the office with only a nod to her parents in parting as she was still very angry with them for what they had done._

**End Flashback**

She had since forgiven them for what they had done but they weren't quite as close for the next year or so but they did move past it.

Stepping into the floo she called out the address to her parents' house before falling out of the other side having tripped coming out of the fireplace. Getting up she went and greeted her parents as they were eating breakfast in the kitchen.

"Hello Mum, Dad."

"Nymphadora, why didn't you tell us you were going to come over?"

"I wasn't planning on it until this morning." Tonks replied.

"What do you mean?" her father, Ted, replied.

"Well," she began as she sat down at the table "I had just gotten a letter from the goblins last week that told me that my betrothed had been informed of the marriage and that he would be informing of his identity soon.

"The night previous, I had received a letter from Sirius' godson Harry. He wrote to apologize for being a brat after Sirius died, and that he would really like to get to know me better. Anyway after the letter from Gringotts; I was pissed off and really want to rant to someone; since I was so angry and not really thinking straight—"

"You wrote a letter to Harry ranting about how you were feeling. Right?" her mother stated.

"… Yeah, I did. But instead of being really snotty he wrote back giving me some advice and saying that if I wanted I should come and meet with him, so we could talk. I accepted and yesterday I went over to his house to talk to him. We ended up going to a restaurant nearby, he was really nervous the whole time we were walking. When we got there and I asked him why, he… made it clear that he was my betrothed. After getting upset, he described his side and the fact that he had only known for the last week, and that he was in the same position as I am. He didn't have his parents to question as to why it happened and that he had no idea so I really couldn't blame him."

"So you finally know who we betrothed you to? Are you all right, with this? I know that there is not much we can do, but we are your parents, and would like to help however we can." Tonks mother asked.

"Yes, I finally know. I still don't like the idea of being forced into this marriage but after actually talking to him for a while I realized that he's a nice guy and that we can make this work if we try. We don't know each other that well but we talked and are slowly learning more about each other."

"So what're you gonna do now?" Ted asked.

"We're going to get to know each other. Try and become friends, he needs me to help him with some training so I am going to help him and…" she stopped as she thought of what he wrote in his letter to her.

"And what?" her father asked.

"And do what he told me I could."

"Which was?"

"Train him into the perfect man and husband." She said with a laugh.

Joining their daughter in laughter Mr. and Mrs. Tonks proceeded to spend the morning with their daughter just enjoying their time together.

In a castle in northern Scotland an aging wizard by the name of Albus Dumbledore sat behind his desk; thinking about the boy who was the wizarding world's last hope. He was thinking about the latest reports that had been brought to him from the guards around Harry's aunt's home. Albus knew that another of his guards named Nymphadora Tonks had been seen over the day before and they had gone to a restaurant for an early dinner and then decided to walk around the neighborhood for the next few hours. His guard had been unable to hear what they talked about in the restaurant as there weren't any free tables in the area. The rest of the afternoon his guard had reported that they talked about nothing in particular, just personal information that would allow them to get to know each other. Deciding that he needed to know what was going on he sent a message to Tonks to meet him later today. He left off why he wanted to talk to her because he had found that it was much easier to find out information when the person didn't know what he wanted.

Setting that aside he began thinking about what had been going on lately. Voldemort had been fairly quiet of late, with only a few raids and attacks on muggles and muggle-borns. He had learned from his spy, Severus, that Voldemort had been trying to rebuild his forces after the fiasco at the ministry. With most of his inner-circle in prison at the moment; his forces were mainly untrained witches and wizards who wanted power but had little training. The other positive that could be derived from this is Severus had risen in the ranks and was able to bring much more valuable information.

Unable to come to, a conclusion, about what he could do about Voldemort for the present time. Albus set about making plans for Harry to be brought; over to Headquarters, and what he wanted the boy to learn for the upcoming year. As he knew, that Harry was going to be in more danger this year, as Voldemort was now publicly, acknowledged as being back. Harry would be a much bigger target since he was the main reason; Voldemort had lost power the first time.

Returning home from her parent's house, in the early afternoon, Tonks noticed a strange owl sitting outside the window to her apartment. Opening the window, she let the owl in, and read the letter from Dumbledore asking her to come to his office that night. Thinking about why she would be called she went over everything that had happened in the few days since the last Order meeting. She knew of nothing that had happened, except for her meeting with Harry. Thinking back to the meeting, she remembered how angry he had been at Dumbledore, for all of his machinations over the last few years. She decided that the headmaster probably wanted to know about that, as he had been very: she would have said concerned, but after talking to Harry she thought that impertinent, would be the best word to describe Albus's interest in Harry.

After sending the owl away, she decided to go talk to Albus now, as she had no other pressing duties that had to be, done today. Stepping outside of her flat she apparated to the gates of Hogwarts before making her way up to the path to the castle. Upon reaching the castle the doors were opened by Filch before he led her to the Headmaster's office. Coming up the stairs to the office she was about to open the door when she heard "Come in Nymphadora." Wearing a slight scowl on her face due to the use of her first name, she entered and sat down in one of the chairs.

"Wotcher Albus."

"Ah Nymphadora, thank you for coming on such short notice."

"No problem sir. So what did you want?"

"I was curious as to what you're meeting with young Mr. Potter was about."

Blinking in surprise, at how blunt he was with the topic she said, "I'm sorry?"

"I understand that you met with Mr. Potter yesterday. I would like to know why?" He said with his usual twinkle in his eyes, going for the kindly grandfather look.

"I don't see why it matters sir."

"Mr. Potter is a special case, and I like to keep track of what has been going on with him, as he tends to attract trouble."

"Understandable, but what he and I talked about was between us. I received a letter from Gringotts informing me of some personal matters, and Harry offered to talk with me about it."

"What did Gringotts want?"

"I'm sorry? What they needed to discuss with me is personal, and I can see no reason why it concerns you."

"You're right, I apologize Nymphadora."

"If there is nothing else I need to be going. I am supposed to be minding him tonight," she said upset; that he felt that it was his business, to know that what she was doing. She also realized that his apology was only a farce; he had no real feeling behind it.

"Of course my dear Nymphadora, I thank you for coming." He said as she got up and left his office.

Leaving his office, she decided that she really should go see Harry; as this was something he should know about, and not something that could be put in a letter. She decided; she would go talk to him tonight.

Harry had just returned to his room, after eating dinner with his relatives, when he noticed a familiar owl outside his window. He recognized the owl as the one Tonks used. Retrieving the letter from the owl, Harry opened it and read:

_Harry,_

_We need to talk. I will be coming into your room tonight at 10pm._

_Tonks_

His interest now piqued, Harry decided to straiten his room and prepare some privacy spells for tonight, so that his meeting with Tonks, would not, be disturbed tonight. After those were set, Harry decided to strengthen his mind shields. He spent the next two hours going through his memories; then reinforcing the permanent shields in his mind, so that they would be able to withstand minor attacks, instead of collapsing, as they would have. Harry then began doing his metamorphmagus exercises, so that he would be ready, in case Tonks wanted to start on that tonight. An hour later, at 9 pm, Harry stopped this exercise; leaving his hair blue, before beginning his wandless exercise of hovering up and down. This was how Tonks found him an hour later, when she appeared in his room.

"Harry!" she yelled in surprise, causing Harry to lose his concentration, and fall, crumpling into a heap on the floor.

"Huh…" he responded intelligently.

"How were you doing that?" she asked still not seeing that his hair was different.

"Doing what?" he questioned still trying to work out what was going on, before realization came to him that it was Tonks in his room, and it was time for their meeting.

"Floating, hovering whatever the hell that was."

"Oh… I was practicing." He answered vaguely.

"Practicing what?" she continued to question, while growing steadily more frustrated that he wasn't answering her.

Seeing that she wasn't in the mood to play twenty questions, he wandlessly summoned the book on wandless magic, before handing it to her and saying simply "this."

Shocked that she had seen him summon the book without his wand; she grabbed the book and read the title _Wandless Magic: A User's Guide. _Now she just stood there gaping at the title, before looking back at Harry then back at the book, several times, before she was able to say "Wandless ma-magic?" She half asked/stated in complete surprise.

"Yes."

"B-but it's supposed to be impossible."

"So is being able to cast a corporeal Patronus at 13, but I did it."

"Where did you find this?"

"In the Ravenclaw vault."

"But how? You are only supposed to be able to enter a family vault, once you have reached your majority."

"Yes well, that has to do with something I learned from Sirius will."

"What? What could you have learned, that allowed you access to your family vault before you're of age?"

"Sirius was still my godfather under Wizarding law, and therefore my guardian in all things magical. He emancipated me in his will, making me a full adult; and giving me access to the Potter, Black, and Ravenclaw vaults."

"Oh, so why are you still here if you don't need to be?"

"It is a safe place, and it is away from Dumbledore; giving me the chance to study and learn without his interference."

"Ok, but that reminds me about why I'm here."

"Oh."

"Yeah, Dumbledore found out that we met yesterday, and asked me to come see him today. He wanted to know what we talked about." She said expecting to see some form of emotion on Harry's face. She was disappointed when his face became a mask betraying no emotion.

"I'm not really all that surprised. He seems to think that everything I do; is part of his business." He paused before asking, "What did you tell him?"

"I said that I received a letter from Gringotts, and that you had offered to talk to me about it. He then asked what the letter was about."

"He really does think that everything is his business."

"I know. I didn't realize that he was like that before, but after speaking to you and talking with him, I can see that he really doesn't care about the individual people. He only cares for the greater good as he says."

Snorting Harry said, "Yeah I know. But he not even that good, at protecting the greater good."

"What do you mean?"

"I assume that Voldemort has been active this summer. Yes?"

"Yeah…"

"Has Dumbledore had the Order, do anything to stop them? Has he tried, to get the ministry to do anything proactive; or is Fudge still in charge, trying to cover his arse and look good at the same time?"

"Um… No. He has done nothing to stop the attacks, or try to reform the ministry, so it can stop Voldemort. But why is it his duty to reform the ministry?"

"It's his _duty, _because he is probably the most influential person in the community; he is the one, everyone looks to as their savior. He has the power, and therefore the responsibility. I mean with one article in the _Prophet,_ he could remove the support of several of the pureblood families, but he just keeps that information to himself."

"What information?"

"That Voldemort; is a half-blood originally known as Tom Marvolo Riddle. His mother was the last heir of Slytherin, and his father was some muggle, who left his mother after he found out that she was a witch."

"You're serious?"

"Yes, Dumbledore has known since before Voldemort fell last time. It would most likely, cause Voldemort to lose a great deal of support."

"What the hell is that man thinking; I mean almost all Death Eaters are purebloods, who hate all non-purebloods."

"I'm fairly certain that he isn't. Now, since I don't get the _Daily Prophet _anymore, can you tell me what has been going on? I know, you said that there have been attacks."

Startled at the switch, she paused before saying, "Not much really, there have been a few attacks on muggles and muggle-borns, but other than that, all we know is that You-Know-Who has been surprisingly quiet since the ministry."

"Thank you."

"For what?" she asked in confusion.

"For telling me, most people continue to try and keep me in the dark. For my own good, of course." He said with bitterness at the last part.

"No problem." She said getting up to leave.

"Thanks Tonks, but wait."

She turned around looking at him expectantly. He continued with, "Now that you're here can we talk about when you can train me?"

"Sure. I don't have much free time during the day, because of Auror work; but I am scheduled to mind you during the night, three days a week. We can do it then, if you want?"

"Sure."

"Bye Harry, until next time; just continue to practice what you have been. I need to get outside soon."

"Bye Tonks; and thanks."

Nodding that she heard, she left.


	6. Chapter 6

* * *

A/N: I do not own Harry Potter or any of the Harry Potter characters 

I'd also like to thank my betas Yenom and danielc.

Chapter 6

After having left Harry's late last night, Tonks went back to her apartment to sleep for a few hours before waking up Tuesday morning. Rising from bed, she grabbed something to eat before leaving for the ministry. Upon reaching Level 2, Auror Headquarters, she did what little paperwork she had, finishing it within the first few hours of her shift, allowing her to do some research into the information she had received from Harry.

After breaking for a short lunch, she went down to the records area of the ministry. Approaching one of the employees in that department, a woman named Lisa, Tonks got her attention "Wotcher Lisa."

"Hello Ms. Tonks," Lisa replied knowingly; as she needed to be able to recognize who had access to what files, therefore she had access to the personnel files of most people employed by the ministry. "What can I do for you?"

"I need access to a Tom Marvolo Riddle's file."

"What do you need the information for?"

Trying to appear as if on official business she replied "I need for a case I am working on."

"Sure, one minute," Lisa responded before leaving to get the necessary files. After several minutes she returns empty handed, "I'm sorry Ms. Tonks, but the records you have requested were sealed upon death."

"Are you sure he's deceased?" She said perplexed. "I was under the impression that he was still alive."

"That's what the binding spell on his file indicated. If you still require these records you will need to obtain permission from Madam Bones."

"Thank you." Tonks said as she left, intending to go see her boss.

* * *

Having reached Madam Bones' office Tonks knocked on the door.

"Come in."

Entering the office, Tonks closed the door behind her. "Madam Bones," she said in greeting.

"Ms. Tonks, what did you need?"

"I needed to get access to some files in the records department but they are sealed and I need you're permission to gain access, having been sealed upon his supposed death"

"Whose files do you need access to?"

"One Tom Marvolo Riddle."

"I don't recall any cases going on involving anyone by that name. Who is he?"

"If what I was told is right? He is You-Know-Who." Tonks said expecting a reaction from her boss. She was somewhat disappointed when all she received was a raised eyebrow.

"Really? And where did you come across this information?"

"Yes, I was told this information by Harry Potter."

"And how do you know him? I was unaware that you had any contact with him."

As her role in the Order was still secret, Tonks was unable to say that she had met Harry several times as part of his guard escort. Forcing her to tell about the contract. "Ma'am what I am about to tell you I really need you're word that it can't leave this room."

Becoming even more intrigued by this point she said "As long as what is said breaks no laws, you have my word that anything you say will not be told to anyone else."

Sighing in relief Tonks began to speak. "I know Harry because his parents were friends of mine and they arranged a contract between, which he has recently become aware of, he then made contact with me so that we could meet and discuss the ramifications of the contract."

"Ms. Tonks, you have told me nothing of any real importance. What does the contract between the two of you consist of?"

"Marriage." This got a much bigger response of shock from Madam Bones than anything else so far.

"I'm assuming that the marriage would be between you and him, yes?"

"Yes."

"Ok so that explains how you know Mr. Potter. Why would he tell you this information about Voldemort? He wouldn't know you well enough to confide such information so quickly, or at least I wouldn't assume so."

"When we met the other day to discuss the contract was not the first time we met, but after me yelling at him for a while we discussed some things. We were able to come to an agreement, that if this was to work between us we would have to be honest with each other. Speaking of which, I also learned of something that I need to bring to you're attention."

"Yes what's that?"

"That Dolores Umbridge was using a torture device on the students last year as a form of punishment."

This caught the attention of her superior quickly as she had a niece that went to Hogwarts. "What kind of torture was she using?"

"I have seen evidence that she was using a blood quill on students, she would make them write lines using it."

"That is a serious charge to be brought against her. You said you have seen evidence?"

"Yes. When I met with Harry I caught a glimpse of his hand and saw that he had scars etched into the skin on the back of his hand. When I looked closer I saw the scars spelled _I will not tell lies. _When I asked him how he got them he said that in detention with Umbridge she would make him write lines with a quill that used his own blood."

"Was Mr. Potter the only one she used the quill on?"

"I know she used it on at least one other student during her time there, I was unable to learn the name from Harry though."

"I see. I will have the charges brought up immediately. However, I am curious as to why I did not hear of this sooner. I would have suspected that the students would tell the Headmaster or at least their Head of House about something like this."

"I asked him the same question, and he responded that Dumbledore wouldn't meet with him during the year, and that McGonagall said something that made Harry wary to trust her with something like this. He did not say what that was though." She lied about the conversation with McGonagall as she did not want to reveal that much about the professor.

"I will have to discuss this with both the Headmaster and his Head of House then."

"Of course, Harry did ask to be left out of this as much as possible if it was feasible."

"I will take that into consideration. Now as to your earlier request, did Mr. Potter state why he thought this Riddle was Voldemort?"

"Yes he did. If you would indulge me for a moment? Please write the phrase 'I am Lord Voldemort' and beneath that write the name 'Tom Marvolo Riddle.'"

"What is this supposed to prove?"

"If you would please wait a moment I will show you. Now if you would just match up the letters used in each phrase and cross out those that you have matched, you should find that they contain the same letters."

Surprised to find that she was right Madam Bones asked "Ok I can see how you would believe that you would be able to come to the conclusion that Riddle is Voldemort, but what does this prove?"

"Truthfully. In and of itself this proves nothing. It is the information to be gained by learning who Tom Riddle was that is important. If I am right then Riddle is a half-blood," she said letting the implications sink in.

With an obvious amount of shock on her face Madam Bones said, "Which would mean that Voldemort is a half-blood. If this is true and was to be leaked to the papers Voldemort would lose a great deal of support among the pure-blooded families." She said before continuing in an official tone, "Auror Tonks, you have my full permission for access to whatever records you require to bring to light any truths possible when pertaining to the history of one Tom Marvolo Riddle."

"Thank you Ma'am," Tonks said before leaving the office to continue her research.

* * *

That same morning when Harry awoke, he immediately began his normal routine until lunch was finished. After lunch his routine varied from what he had originally intended.

Reflecting upon his conversation with Tonks the previous night, he came to the realization that Dumbledore was much more interfering than he had originally believed. He now needed a way he could get out from under Dumbledore's influence permanently, the only ways he knew of doing that were if he:

a) Go to a different school (a possibility that he was looking at very seriously)

b) Drop out of Hogwarts completely and train himself (something he had considered but was not confident he would be able to learn everything he would need to defeat Voldemort)

c) Drop out of Hogwarts and try to find someone who he could apprentice himself to (this one held the most appeal for him as he would still have someone who could train him professionally and no longer be under Dumbledore's influence).

Of his three options the thought of just training himself was the one he considered least feasible because he would be greatly restricted in the types of things he could learn and would be unable to master many things without the assistance of others. If he were to go to another school the only other one he knew of that he could attend would be Beauxbatons, he could in theory go to Durmstrang but with the school's reputation of turning out so many dark wizards and witches he did not want to chance going somewhere that he had such a high probability of being surrounded by death eater supporters. The last option of becoming an apprentice was the one he would like the best as he would still be able to have the professional training he needed. The only problem he knew of with the last one was that he did not know of anyone who would be willing to train him that he could trust. Deciding he would look into either going into another school or becoming an apprentice he sat down at his desk and began to write a letter.

_Dear Headmistress,_

_We met briefly during my fourth at the Triwizard Tournament when I was one of the Hogwarts champions. Recently I have come to a head with my Headmaster Albus Dumbledore and have decided that it might be in my best interest to attend a different school away from him. I would like to formally request acceptance in your school if possible for the upcoming school year. I am unsure if I will actually attend your school but would like the option if I am unable to come to terms with the Headmaster._

_My Sincere Thanks,_

_Harry James Potter._

Deciding that his letter sounded good enough he called Hedwig to him, she had returned late last night from her trip to Sweden with Luna's letter, and attached the letter before sending her off to France. He then decided that he would need to leave again to go to the ministry and find a list people who were currently accepting or capable of becoming a master to him. Grabbing his invisibility cloak, wand and money pouch he went downstairs to tell his relatives that he would be leaving for the afternoon and should be back in a few hours. He then left his house under the cover of his invisibility cloak and traveled a few blocks until he was clear to call the Knight Bus without arousing suspicion from either his guard or the muggles in the area. Boarding the bus he spoke his destination to Stan and then sat down for the hour wait to London and the ministry.

* * *

Arriving at the ministry, Harry entered the phone booth receiving a nametag for a James Evans before changing the length of his hair before entering the atrium. Proceeding directly to the security desk he held out his wand for inspection before asking the security guard for directions to the Department of Education. After getting the directions he left for the correct floor and proceeded to the correct office. Knocking on the door, he entered after receiving permission to enter.

"Yes, how may I help you?" the woman working the office asked in a slightly bored tone.

"I was hoping you could help me find some information Miss?"

"Jones. What kind of information did you need?"

"I am looking into seeing if there is anyone who would be willing to accept an apprentice."

"I do have the information, but you do realize that very few are accepted right?" she said surprised of the request from the young man in front of her.

"I was expecting that but there is no harm in applying."

"No, of course not," Ms. Jones said while retrieving the appropriate list handing it to Harry.

"Thank you for your help." Harry said just as a woman he recognized entered the office. A woman who turned out to be Madam Bones, head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, and someone who might be able to recognize him. He decided that now would be a good time to leave before she did.

Before he could leave however he heard Madam Bones say, "I need a copy of Harry Potter's record for the last school year." Now intrigued as to what she would want his record for; he stopped and pretended to look at the list in his hands so he could hear more.

"Of course Madam Bones, do you mind if I ask why?"

"Not at all, I was told of a serious complaint about one of the teachers on staff last year and he was mentioned as one of the people involved."

"Who was the teacher?" Ms. Jones asked curious as to who it could be that had the Head of Magical Law Enforcement in her office.

"I can't say yet, but it should be public knowledge soon enough." Madam Bones said while receiving the files she needed.

Harry decided that now was the best time to leave, before Madam Bones was able to recognize him in front of someone that he didn't want to know he was there. Leaving the office he made his way slowly to the elevator so that he would hopefully be able to enter at the same time as Madam Bones so that he would be able to talk with her privately. Looking back he saw that the woman was only a short ways back so he pressed the button to call for the elevator. She reached the elevator at the same time the doors opened. Harry entered at the same time she did and allowed her to press the button for the correct level as he didn't know what level her office was on. A short trip later he had exited the elevator with her and proceeded to follow her back to her office. Watching her he noticed that she was beginning to become curious about the mysterious person behind her.

Stopping she turned around and asked, "Excuse me, but is there a reason that you are following me?"

With a small smile he replied, "I needed to speak with you."

"Really? And what did you need to speak with me about?"

"I heard what you said in the office of Education and have information that could help you with the case."

"You do know it is impolite to listen in on other people's conversations don't you?"

"Yes, but I could hardly not when you were speaking about me." He said with a smile.

Looking at him in growing recognition she asked him to follow her to her office. "Now what can I do for you, Mr. Potter?" She asked after they had entered her office and closed the door.

"I'm assuming that Tonks told you about what Umbridge did in her detentions last year."

"Yes she did, just a few moments ago in fact." She said before she rose up from her chair so that she could tell someone to bring Tonks to her office. "Did Ms. Umbridge really use a Blood quill on you last year?" she asked.

In response Harry sighed before nodding and extending his hand. Grabbing his hand in order to look at the scars more carefully she quickly saw that he had been telling the truth.

"Thank you for confirming the information. How many times did she do this to you?"

"Every detention, she had me writing lines for at least an hour every time usually more though. I don't remember how many detentions I had with her but it probably says in the file." He said while indicating the folder on her desk.

"I'm sure it does. Now Mr. Potter if I might ask you some other questions?"

"A few, but I really need to be getting on."

"This shouldn't take long. I was just curious as to why you are here today?"

"I had need of some information from the Educational department."

"OK, not what I meant, what I meant was why you are here by yourself?"

"My relatives are muggles who do not approve of magic, so they would not want to come with me."

"Understandable, but it is still dangerous for you to be out by yourself." She said as the door to her office opened and Tonks stepped in.

"Madam Bones? You requested me." Tonks said before turning to the other person in the room and saying, "Harry!"

"Yes, I did," Madam Bones said while Harry only nodded his head.

"As you can see for yourself Mr. Potter is here also. He followed me from the Department of Education after hearing me request his file. I have just been confirming what you have told me earlier."

Overcoming her readily apparent shock Tonks only nodded. With that explanation Harry decides that the meeting has gone on long enough and got up to leave.

"If were finished here there are still a few things that I need to do today." Harry said rising from his seat.

"No I believe you have given us all the information needed, unless there is more you could add to the charges of Ms. Umbridge." Madame Bones replies.

"There are a couple things but they are probably much more serious charges and would need you to see the memories of the events that I have." He replied sitting down again.

"Harry, what other charges could be more serious than the torture she put you through? And why didn't you say anything to me? I thought we were going to be honest with each other." Tonks said anxious and upset that he had kept other secrets from her.

"Ms. Tonks, calm down I'm sure he had a reason that he kept this from you, but that can be discussed later, privately. Now Mr. Potter what other accusations do you have that could be brought against Ms. Umbridge?"

"I'm not sure if this one is illegal but she tried to give me verasiterrum, the other one she did not succeed in doing but she was going to cast the _Cruciatus _curse on me." Harry said as he watched the expressions on the faces of the women in front of him go from mild shock to horror.

"These are very serious accusations Mr. Potter; we would need to verify the information before we bring formal charges against her." Madam Bones said in reply after she recovered from her shock.

"Would viewing the memories in a pensieve be proof enough for you?"

"It would be sufficient for now but we would need you in court for verification. I know you said that you wanted to be left out of the spotlight but if you do this you're name would be firmly attached to these charges and we would need your guardian with you."

"What would the sentence be if she were convicted?" Harry asked.

Slightly thrown by the question Madam Bones replied, "If she were to be convicted of all charges she would probably in life in prison."

With a gleeful smile on his face Harry said, "I'll do it, but my guardians will not need to attend."

"Why is that?" Tonks asked this time.

"I was emancipated a little over a week ago." He said showing no emotion.

"Well that certainly makes some things simpler." Madam Bones said before going over to a cabinet to retrieve a cauldron-like object that was fairly small with strange markings all over the rim. "This Mr. Potter is a special pensieve. The memories in it can not be changed by a person's emotions or feeling, making it ideal for getting statements from witnesses."

"How do I put the memories in it?" Harry asked.

"You don't. Either Ms. Tonks or I will retrieve the memories from you. All we need you to do is concentrate on the memories you need to show to prove that you're claims are valid."

"Can we start now?"

"Absolutely, just concentrate on the memories and Ms. Tonks will extract them." Madam Bones said as Harry gained a look of concentration on his face and Tonks walked over next to Harry and placed her wand to his temple before pulling it back with a long silvery strand attached to it. Tonks then deposited them in the pensieve filling it with a silvery liquid.

"Now all we need do is enter the pensieve to view the memories." Madam Bones said as she indicated for Harry and Tonks to come closer to the pensieve so they could all enter it at the same time.

Entering the pensieve the memory started out with Harry sitting in Professor Umbridge's office in a chair opposite her. The first memory continued with her trying to give Harry some tea all the while asking Harry several questions. When Harry didn't answer the question to her satisfaction they saw Umbridge become upset before she finally told him to leave. The next memory was one where Harry and his friends were all in Umbridge's office again and she had called Professor Snape into her office to bring her more Veritaserum. They then watched as Umbridge became angry with Snape for not having any more ready. The three spectators then watched as Umbridge became increasingly angry when the students wouldn't tell her what she wanted to know. They were shocked however when they saw Umbridge begin the wand movements and clearly state the incantation for the _Cruciatus _curse. Shortly after that the memory ended bringing the three people out of the pensieve.

Upon regaining their senses the three in the office all went to a chair and sat down. "Mr. Potter the memories you provided have been sufficient to prove to my satisfaction that you're claims are accurate. At the moment this is all we need from you. We will send you a letter for when we need you to appear in court." Madam Bones said in a voice that struggled to stay formal.

"Thank you," Harry said in tired voice before he rose and left the office. Before he left he heard Tonks say, "I will be over soon Harry, we need to talk." Nodding his head in acceptance Harry went out the door.

* * *

_Inside Madam Bones' Office…_

With a raised eyebrow Madam Bones turned her attention to Tonks. "You will be going over to his house?"

Returning her attention to her boos Tonks replied, "Yes, besides being effectively engaged to him I am also training him."

"Training him?"

"Yeah, did you notice how his hair is longer than normal? He is a metamorphmagus like me. He asked me to train him in his abilities."

"Ah." Madam Bones said in acceptance. "Now though I want you to continue your investigation into Riddle. I will draw up the charges against Madam Umbridge."

Nodding her head in acceptance Tonks got up from her chair and left, leaving her boss to continue working on the paperwork.

* * *

_Meanwhile with Harry…_

Harry did not immediately call Knight Bus after leaving the ministry, instead he decided to use there floo and flame to the Leaky Cauldron. He decided with all the messages that he was sending he would need another owl, so he immediately left the pub and went to Magical Menagerie to buy another owl, hopefully one that would look similar to Hedwig so that it would arise as little suspicion as possible. Luckily he was able to find another snowy owl that looked a little like Hedwig. He sent the owl on ahead before he left after shrinking all the purchases he had bought for his owl.

Before going back to the Leaky Cauldron he decided to go to Ollivanders to get another wand. He had realized that his wand would not allow him to duel Voldemort so he decided that he would do what he could to get another one. His wandless magic would not allow him duel with anyone at his current ability and he wouldn't gain that much skill for several months at the rate he was training. Before he went there he knew he would need proof of his partial ownership of the shop so he went to Gringotts to get whatever proof he would need before going to the old wandcrafter.

Entering the shop he was immediately on his guard when he could not see the man. "Good afternoon Mr. Potter." Ollivander said from behind Harry, causing Harry to turn and quickly and cast a stunner without a wand. Seeing that the man he needed to talk to Harry quickly pulled his wand and cast an _Ennervate_ on Ollivander causing the man to awaken.

"Perhaps it was a little foolish of me to sneak up on you." Ollivander said in response to waking up on the floor.

"Perhaps." Harry said in agreement.

"You didn't use a wand for that stunner did you?" Ollivander asked in sudden comprehension.

"Did I?" Harry asks in response holding up his wand.

"Yes… I'm sure you were not holding you're wand when you came in."

"If I answer that question I will want you're oath that anything we speak of in here stays between us." Harry said in a serious tone.

"Ah so you have secrets to hide. But secrets from whom I wonder."

"Secrets from everyone. Do we have a deal?"

"I think it would be worth my time, yes. I solemnly swear on my magic that I will not speak of anything said between us." Ollivander said while raising his wand and pointing it at Harry to seal the agreement, Harry in turn extended his hand and pushed some his magic into his hand while bringing it in contact with Ollivanders wand sealing the contract.

"So you are able to cast wandlessly." Ollivander said in wonderment.

"Yes, now if you would close the store for a short while during our meeting I would greatly appreciate it."

"Of course Mr. Potter, I have a feeling that this will be an enlightening conversation," Ollivander said as he went to the door and closed it and the blinds. "Now what brings you to my shop?"

"I needed to get another wand."

"You do know that it is illegal to own a second wand unless you are an auror, don't you?"

"I was not aware of that but I do not believe it matters. My wand is currently unable to fight against its brother without unfortunate circumstances occurring. And as you know who holds my wand's brother, you can see how it would behoove me to have another wand with the amount of times that I have been forced to face its brother."

"Yes, Riddle does seem to carry a grudge against you, but I am still unable to sell you another wand."

"Not even if I own a significant amount of the stock in this company?"

"To my knowledge, the Potter family has never owned stock in my store."

"You are correct the Potters never have owned any stock in this company but the Ravenclaws do."

"Yes, they do. Twenty-five percent if I am correct, but that family died out a few hundred years ago."

"That is where you are mistaken. The family was lost due to several generations of squibs being born into it, but they did not die out. I am the last heir to that family as far as I know."

"Really?" Ollivander said in curiosity. "You have some proof of this I'm sure."

"Absolutely," Harry said as he handed over the proof he had gathered from Gringotts earlier.

Looking at the papers Ollivander eventually said "Yes I believe this will be sufficient for me. I think I will be able to make a wand for you as long as we don't advertise the fact that you have two wands."

Bowing his head in thanks Harry said "Thank you."

Nodding his head in acknowledgement Ollivander said "Your welcome, now onto making you a new wand. As you probably remember you were particularly difficult in finding a wand for. To create you a wand that is specialized for you is actually fairly simple for you, not for me but for you it will only take a few moments here and then waiting a few days while I create it for you." Ollivander explained as he indicated for Harry to follow him to the back of his shop. After a short walk he stopped and picked up a glasslike orb before handing it to Harry. "For you're part all I need you to do is push a little bit of your magic into the orb just like you did earlier with sealing my magical oath. That will allow me to match up the correct type of wood and core so that your wand will be the best match for you."

After Harry followed the directions he handed the ball back to Ollivander before asking "That's all?"

"Yes Mr. Potter."

"I need to purchase two wand holsters if possible, but other than that my business here is concluded."

"Of course if you would come back up to the front we can get those items for you, I would still like to know how you were able to use magic without a wand."

"I think I can tell you that. A wand only creates the channel for the magic in a person; with some practice anyone capable of using magic is capable of doing magic wandlessly with enough training." Harry explained as the wand holsters were being rung up.

"Amazing. So someone finally realized how wands work?"

"Yes… wait you knew?"

"That a wand only channels a persons magic for spells, Yes."

"If you knew then why do you sell wands if you know that they are not necessary?"

"For the same reason wands became dominant in the first place Mr. Potter. They're easier to use."

"Of course. Now I really do need to be going. Please owl the wand to me as I am unsure if I will be able to come back to Diagon Alley this summer."

"Not a problem, Good day Mr. Potter."

"Good day." Harry said as he left the shop to return to muggle London. Once there he called the Knight Bus and left to return back to his 'home.'

* * *

After the 'adventurous' drive home Harry entered the house just before dinner was being served for the night. Sitting down for a quiet meal with his relatives he soon finished leaving for his bedroom.

Entering his room Harry noticed his new owl had arrived and was waiting for him at the end of his bed. He quickly un-shrunk the owl's supplies and set them up for the owl to sleep and eat.

Having finished this chore he sat down in his chair and began to go over the list of possible master that he could apprentice under. About a third of the way down the list he found a name he thought would have been impossible. He found that Nicholas Flamel was accepting apprentices; this was amazing because Dumbledore had told him that Nicholas Flamel had allowed the Sorcerer's Stone to be destroyed which would have forced Flamel to have died by now. But in thinking about it Harry couldn't really find it in himself to find it impossible, with all the things that Dumbledore had lied to him about over the years he was able to accept that Flamel was still alive quite easily. Deciding That Flamel would be an excellent master, with how long he had been alive Harry figured that he would know a great deal of knowledge about more than just alchemy, Harry quickly set the list aside and sat down at his desk to write the petition form to Nicholas Flamel for apprenticeship.

_Master: Nicholas Flamel_

_Name: Harry James Potter_

_Family: Potter, Black, Ravenclaw_

_Years of Magical Education to date: 5_

_Reason for Petition: I have recently become aware of some events that will take place in my future and will need to be better prepared for those events than can be accomplished at Hogwarts. I have also had a fairly large falling out with the current headmaster and no longer feel that he can be trusted to do what I would need to survive the above mentioned events._

Finishing with the petition he decided that it was surprisingly simple for such a life-changing application. Harry immediately sent the letter off with his new owl hoping to receive a reply soon. Looking at the time Harry noticed it was already fairly late and he was tired from all that he had done today, so he decided that he would just practice his occulemency before going to bed and he would read the replies his friends had sent him tomorrow.


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: I do not own Harry Potter.

Chapter 7

It was 8pm Wednesday night and Harry had just spent the last day training and going over what had happened yesterday. He knew that he could expect Tonks to show up tonight to talk about what had happened. He had kept things from her that she would have wanted to know about and knew that she was going to be upset.

Harry picked up the letters his friends had sent him; he had received letters from Ron, Ginny, and Hermione. He hadn't received a reply from Neville and Luna, but then again he wasn't expecting one. His last letters to them had indicated that he would talk to them at Hogwarts and so they probably didn't feel the need to write something back to that.

Ron's letter was understandably short.

_Dear Harry,_

_How are you mate? The muggles treating you okay? Well you only have to put up with them for a little while longer._

_Anyway, you need to hurry up and get here; Hermione is already getting on us about doing revision and homework and going over all our schoolbooks again. We don't even have homework after OWLs but does she take time off? No. She's mad I tell you. She is still writing letters to that Krum guy. He's just using her, why won't she see that._

_Ron_

Harry laughed after reading Ron's letter, Ron was a good friend but even more clueless about girls than he was. Harry knew Ron liked Hermione but he wouldn't say anything about it, because he couldn't even admit it to himself.

Reaching for the next letter in the pile Harry picked up Hermione's letter.

_Dear Harry,_

_It's good to finally hear that you are no longer blaming yourself, about everything that's happened to those close to you. You were carrying far too much guilt on your shoulders, because of things that you had no control over._

_Now onto your letters to Ginny, do you really, not know why she thinks that you like her? Oh what am I saying, you're a boy of course you don't know. In both of your letters to her, you have said things that any girl would interpret as flirting or at least being interested in her. In her first letter, you ask if she has a boyfriend and then ask to get to know her better; and in your second letter, you say you want to get to know someone better but you can't say who. She only knows of herself that you are trying to get to know better, so she is assuming that you are talking about her, consequently she obviously is confused. Just what is going on with this?_

_Anyway, besides Ginny thinking you might like her, nothing interesting has been happening here. There have been s__everal Order meetings but they won't let us attend, and we are still cleaning the house. Ron is also being a prat. He won't study he just wants to play all day and not do any revision. He still won't believe me that I am not dating Viktor, he is just a friend, and besides I haven't written to him in months._

_Hurry up get here, I miss you,_

_Hermione_

_Okay,_ Harrythought, _that was interesting. Now I know why Ginny thinks I like her but I still don't know how to fix it. Also Hermione is just as blind about her own feelings about Ron as he is towards her. I don't know how she is able to understand what is going in my letters to Ginny but not understand that Ron likes her._

He paused his thoughts he sets them aside to read Ginny's letter.

_Dear Harry,_

_Do you know how little sense your last letter made? You aren't looking for a girlfriend but you want to get to know someone better? You h__ad better have some good answers for all the questions you've raised, or you'll see just how devious I can be._

_I don't know if you have realized this yet but our resident genius and my idiotic brother like each other, but won't admit it to either themselves or the other person; all they are doing is constantly bickering with each other until they are red in the face, then storm off to avoid each other for a few hours. We desperately need to do something about this, as they're driving me mad. I am tempted to just call in the twins and have them prank them until they admit that they like the other person._

_Hoping to see you soon,_

_Ginny_

Ginny's letter was interesting too, as she wants to know more but is willing to wait plus threatens him to tell her what she wants to know, at the same time. This was something that she never would have done before this summer. She also knows about Ron and Hermione; that let some ideas for possible mischief form, about what he and Ginny could do to his two best friends. He was also confused with how she ended the letter _Hoping to see you soon _it sounded like she was interested in him too. He would definitely need to think about this.

Putting those thoughts aside, he began practicing his metamorphmagus exercises while waiting for Tonks came to visit that night. He was expecting her to be there around 10 o'clock just as her letter said she would be. Picking up a magazine, one he had picked up from the coffee table in the living room downstairs, he began with trying to imitate the hairstyles he found in it, mainly just to use up the time until Tonks came.

At 10:15, she showed up in his room wearing tight black jeans, a fitting white shirt, and her usual shocking pink hair. "Wotcher Harry."

"Hey Tonks."

"So what have you been doing today?"

"Just the usual stuff for me: running, weights, boxing, and then my magical exercises. I was going over the metamorphmagus exercises I know before you got here."

"So you just thought that we would work on your training?" She asked with a frown.

Seeing her look he sighed then said, "Well I can always hope."

"Sorry but after everything that you said to Bones yesterday I think that there is a lot of stuff that we need to talk about. Sides right now you need to read this," she said tossing him a book. "It's a basic muggle biology book about the body. You need to know where all the parts are before I start teaching you how to change your features."

"Fine Tonks," he said as he caught the book and set it on his desk next to his friends' letters. "So what do you want to know?"

"Well I figured that first I would like to know what you were doing at the Ministry yesterday."

"Sure, that's something that I need to talk to you about anyway."

"What do you mean?" Tonks asked as she sat down in the chair that Harry had made for reading his books.

Taking a seat in the chair at his desk, he turned it so he was facing her then replied, "I was there because I wanted to explore other options of continuing my education, besides returning to Hogwarts. I don't want to let Dumbledore have too much control over what I'm doing, so I wrote a letter to Beauxbatons asking the headmistress for admission."

"You didn't have to go to the Ministry to do that though," Tonks stated.

"No, your right, I didn't. I went to the Ministry to get a list of all the people who are accepting apprentices. Furthermore I found one that would be able to teach what I need to know, so I sent in an application."

"Who did you send it to?"

"Nicholas Flamel."

Mouth open in surprise she said, "He's dead. He died shortly after your first year, Dumbledore destroyed the stone."

"Maybe he did or maybe Flamel created a new one, I don't know, but his name was on the list of possible masters," Harry said as he grabbed the list and handed it to Tonks.

Looking at the list she quickly saw that he was telling the truth. "This is a really big decision Harry. Why didn't you talk to me about this, whatever you do affects me now, I need to know what is going on with you."

Dropping his head in shame from forgetting that he now had someone else that was affected by everything he did he said, "I know. I'm sorry, I'm not used to having to worry about how what I do will affect others."

"I know that Harry. I'm not really mad at you. I just want you to realize that it is no longer just you, it's us now. For better or worse, we will be together for the rest of our lives. And for what it's worth I agree with your decision. You do need another way to get your education away from Dumbledore, he doesn't really see you as a person, he sees you as a weapon that will be used to defeat Voldemort."

"Thank you for understanding; I will try to remember, that I have to think about you too now."

"That's all I can ask. Now speaking about us, there are some things that I think we need to talk to you about."

Curious as to what she was going to say asked, "What about us?"

"Well I know that you were going to tell your friends about us, but you have to know that shortly after you tell them, Dumbledore will know. I'm not saying that you can't trust them," she said cutting him off before he could begin. "I'm just saying that they still trust Dumbledore, and Hermione especially would want to tell him because she thinks that he would be able to keep me safe."

Opening his mouth to reply he quickly closed it thinking about what she said. He realized that what she said was true, Hermione had always trusted the rules too much and she would want to tell Dumbledore. "So what do we do? I don't really want to hide this from my friends."

Sighing she said, "Ok well other than just not telling them at all we have two options. We can tell everyone all at once, maybe at an Order meeting or you can just tell your friends that you are betrothed but not tell them who."

Pausing to give it some serious thought Harry replied, "I think that we should just tell everyone. As much as I don't want Dumbledore to know about this; if I don't tell my friends who I am betrothed to, then we would have to keep it a secret from them. We would also run the risk of having everyone trying to pry into my life, even more so than now, plus my friends wouldn't like it if I didn't tell them."

With a look of extreme reluctance she said, "Ok, if that is what you think is best we'll do that. Do you want me to tell them myself, or do you want me to wait until you get to Grimmauld Place?"

"I'll trust your judgment on that. If you want to wait until I am there so I can answer the questions of why, you can do that or you can tell them on your own, if you think they will be satisfied with the answers you can give them, do that. Just let me know whichever you do."

"Alright, another thing we need to discuss, I think, is when you can meet my parents."

Somewhat shocked by this he asked, "Why?"

"Well, they will be your parents in a year and they don't really know anything about you. We were supposed to grow up together, playing and having our families being close. As that didn't happen, all they know now are what the papers have said about you, plus what little I have told them. They want to meet you in person, so they can form their own opinion as to what you're like."

"Alright Tonks. Set up a time with them so we can go have dinner sometime."

"Really?" she asked amazed that he had acquiesced so easily.

With a bemused smile he answered, "Yeah, I know that your parents are important to you, so sure, I'll meet them."

Impulsively she hugged him before saying, "Thank you. I didn't think that you would agree so easily. I mean no boyfriend ever wants to meet a girl's parents."

"Boyfriend?" he asked with a smile.

"Huh, well yeah. I mean we are going to have to get to know each other better, and what better way than if we are dating?"

"Oh alright, if you insist," He said with a teasing glint in his eyes.

"Yes I do," she said with a laugh as she playfully smacked his arm.

Joining her in laughter for a moment before he asked, "Is there anything else you want to know?"

"Some things yeah, but we can do that slowly. Why don't you tell me about what life was like for you until Hogwarts, and I'll do the same."

"You'll tell me about yourself too?"

Tilting her head to the side and furrowing her brow in confusion she said, "Of course, I mean you have a right to know about my past just as much as I have a right to know about yours, so we're going to trade off."

"Alright. Well there's not really all that much that happened before Hogwarts. After I was brought here, I raised myself as soon as I was able to. I mean I cooked for myself, and the Dursleys, starting shortly after I was five and tall enough to reach the counters. I started to clean up all the messes, clean the house, do all the laundry, mow the lawn, do the gardening, and generally work as their slave until I got my letter. Before then I also slept in the cupboard under the stairs the entire time. As I was only, given this room when I returned from my first year of Hogwarts, before then, it was considered Dudley's second room. I was never, given anything growing up. I grew up wearing Dudley's old clothes. I was never allowed to have friends in school, plus was also punished for doing better than Dudley in school, and was only given glasses when the school nurse wrote home that I needed them. I was never really abused but I was never cared for either, I was a freak to them and unworthy of them," Harry said without pause, never changing his gaze from the floor until he ended, then took a small glance at Tonks.

Tonks for her part was shocked. She knew that Harry never had a good home life but she was shocked that it was so bad. "I don't know what to say. I knew that you didn't like it here, but I didn't think it was that bad. To be honest, I am amazed that you have turned out to be as good as you are. What you went through would have, and has made lesser men go dark. I am proud of you."

Shocked at what she said he just quietly replied, "I'm just me Tonks, I'm no one special, I do what I do because I have to, and because I never want another person to have to go through what I have."

"That is why I am so proud to know you, and to call you a friend. You could have changed into someone worse than the Malfoys, and yet you are still just a normal guy. You don't even think about yourself. You are selfless and that is something that could make me love you, something that also makes it to where, I am not really upset that we are being forced into a marriage with each other," She said with her eyes glistening.

Getting uncomfortable with how the conversation had been going Harry said, "So what was your childhood like?"

"…It was good. I was a mischievous kid always getting into trouble. My parents would always take time to play with me. They took me on vacations, into the muggle world and all over really. Even when I got into trouble and my parents were mad at me, I knew they still loved me. I started changing my appearance when I was 10, my Dad read me a story about elves one night, and the next morning when I woke up, I had long pointy elf-like ears. My parents freaked out," she said with a laugh. "They had no idea how it had happened and ended up taking me to St. Mungo's so they could check me out, and that is where I learned about being a Metamorphmagus. Other than going to a muggle primary school and hanging out with friends, that is all I did."

"It sounds nice Tonks. You make it sound wonderful."

With that, their conversation changed to mundane matters, going on for another hour or so until Harry began to yawn and Tonks decided it was time to leave.

The next two days went by quickly for Harry; he spent his time doing his training without the distractions of visitors or trips. In that time, he had also answered the letters to his friends and sent his letter to the Order. In his letter to his friends, he wrote:

_Dear Ginny,_

_Ok no need to get violent, I promise I will explain everything once I get to where you are. Hopefully the answers will be sufficient for you._

_Now as to the Ron and Hermione issue; I am aware of it, it is really hard not to be. Especially since both spent the second half of their letters complaining about the other. Anyway don't involve the twins yet, I think that we could come up with something that would be much more fun for us. I am still working on ideas on how we can get the two together, well other than locking them in a closet for several hours. So start planning as I'll see in you in less than a week._

_Your Accomplice,_

_Harry_

Harry liked this letter as it didn't imply that he liked Ginny as anything more than a friend or so he hoped. His letter to Ron was far different from the one to Ginny though.

_Dear Ron,_

_The muggles are fine, they have been much better since the warning from the Order, but I still can't wait to get out of here and see you guys again._

_So Ron jealous much? It sounds as if you might like a certain bushy-haired bookworm that we know. Now don't start shaking you head at me, if that wasn't true than you would not care that Hermione is writing to Krum. _

_See you soon,_

_Harry_

Harry liked that letter, because he could just imagine the fit that Ron would have about what he wrote, and how he would try to deny it. His letter to Hermione was similar to his to Ron.

_Dear Hermione,_

_Well it is nice to know that you have such a high opinion of the emotional capability of men; but is it really any wonder that I am so clueless, as to what is going on in a woman's mind? The only women I have been around for any amount of time is you, Ginny, Mrs. Weasley, Tonks, and my Aunt Petunia. Anyway thank you for the explanation; hopefully I wont send mixed signals anymore. I do need to ask you to continue to try and convince Ginny that while I want to be her friend, I am not trying to become her boyfriend._

_Now, onto the other thing you wrote about. I think, someone likes a certain stubborn redheaded friend, and I don't mean Ginny. I don't want to hear no denying it; you don't bug me about studying as much as you do him. You can even ask Ginny, she has noticed it too. Also have you actually told him that you are not writing to Krum, or have you let him continue to believe what he wants?_

_Your not so clueless friend,_

_Harry_

His letter to Hermione was a little longer than Ron's, but after answering questions he said the same thing to her that he had said to Ron, that they both liked the other and just needed to admit it.

The only other thing of importance that had happened was that he had received a letter from Madame Maxime saying that he would be granted acceptance if he wanted.

_**Thursday Morning…**_

The half-giant headmistress of the school Beauxbatons, had just returned to her office after breakfast, and found a snowy white owl sitting on her desk with a letter tied to its leg. Removing the letter, she found that it was written in English, as she knew only a few people who would correspond to her in English, her curiosity was peaked. Quickly reading the letter, she finished within moments of starting it, and set it down in shock. She had just read a letter from Harry Potter, a boy she had met only briefly two years ago. In his letter, he had talked about a falling out with Albus Dumbledore, his current headmaster. If she remembered correctly, she thought that the boy had been quite close to Dumbledore. Curious as to what could have happened that would make Potter want to leave his school, she tried to think of a reason why he would want to transfer, but could come up with nothing. She also decided that as the boy didn't like Dumbledore at the moment, she couldn't ask him, since Mr. Potter had written her in confidence. Still as it was normal, yes uncommon, but normal for a child to request a change of schools and there was nothing that prevented her from allowing it, she wrote a reply that said:

_Dear Mr. Potter,_

_I have received your letter for transfer, and as there is no law restricting me from allowing you entrance into Beauxbatons, I would be happy to accept you as a student here. If you do choose to enroll here, please send a letter notifying me no later than August 15th._

_Sincerely,_

_Madame Maxime, Headmistress of Beauxbatons._

After finishing her letter, she tied the letter to the snowy owl the other had come with and it promptly left, she watched its graceful glides for a few seconds before returning to her normal school duties.

It was now Friday night and the Order of the Phoenix was currently finishing up a meeting.

"Is there any other news that needs to be discussed tonight?" the leader of the Order asked looking around at the people at the table. Seeing them shake their heads in the negative he said, "No? Ok then I believe that is all… Oh Nymphadora, I did hear about a meeting you had with Mr. Potter a few days ago. Could you please tell us what he was doing?"

Seeing that he had caught her in the middle of a meeting room she had to quickly, come up with a reply that would satisfy everyone else but still not tell Dumbledore what really went on, as she wanted to wait until Harry was here to tell everyone. "He had written a letter to me saying he was sorry for acting like a prat after Sirius died, and offered to meet with me if I wanted to talk. So I went there and we ended up going to a restaurant close by, we talked about Sirius and just common stuff," She said looking around the table as she finished.

Dumbledore seeing that everyone else had accepted this explanation knew that he would not get the real reason so he said, "Thank you Nymphadora, I just wanted to make sure that Mr. Potter is doing well after the events of last year."

"No worries, Albus."

"Well if there is nothing else I think that is all. I really must get back to Hogwarts; I will see most of you in a week at the next Order meeting barring any unforeseen problems." With that, Albus rose from his chair and used the floo to get back to his office at Hogwarts.

After leaving Headquarters, Tonks quickly apparated to Harry's bedroom arriving just behind him before saying, "Wotcher Harry."

Startled Harry quickly jumped from his chair, spun around; shooting off a stunner before he even realized it was Tonks behind him. Seeing that she was now lying unconscious on the ground Harry decided to wake her. Wanting to see if he had enough control to use a new spell Harry cast the _Ennevrate _spell on Tonks. To his surprise, the spell worked and Tonks woke up. "Sorry about that Tonks, I forgot you were coming over tonight."

"No problem Harry, I should've been more careful."

Seeing that she really wasn't angry he said, "So what's up?"

"Not much; just got done with an Order meeting. Dumbledore tried to find out what we talked about by asking me in front of the Order, but I was able to tell him a half-truth so he couldn't question me more, or at least not in front of the Order."

"I'm not surprised that he would try something like that. Why didn't you just tell him about the betrothal though, we decided that you could if you want?"

"I decided to wait for you because you know more about the why than I do, and I wasn't sure how much about why, you would want them to know."

Nodding his head in understanding he said, "Well I guess that means we'll tell them after I get there. Anyway, speaking about the betrothal, did you set a date with your parents for when we would meet?"

"Yeah, I got to talk to them yesterday. They said they could do lunch on Tuesday around one. It'll be at the same place we went to before. I'll be here at like 12:30 to pick you up."

"Alright, so what are we doing tonight?"

"Well first I thought we'd go over our first two years at Hogwarts together, then we'll do some practice on morphing."

"Ok, so you wanna go first this time?"

"Sure. Ok so well not much happened my first two years. I mean after getting sorted into Ravenclaw, I began doing some more intensive training in morphing. McGonagall taught me for that. Other than making friends, going to class, and doing homework I didn't really do much. I was too young to start dating so I had no boyfriends, and I didn't start pranking anyone until after fourth year when I knew more magic, so it was pretty boring all in all."

"Yes well I would take boring any day," Harry said after listening to her.

"So what about you, what happened your first two years. I know a little about the Sorcerer's stone thing that happened."

Sighing Harry started speaking about his first year at Hogwarts. He told her about Hagrid and Diagon Alley, meeting Ron and Malfoy on the train, the troll and finally becoming friends with Hermione, the whole mystery behind the Sorcerer's stone then having to get past all the tasks, before facing Voldemort and Quirrel.

After talking about his first year, he proceeded to talk about Dobby, the incident in Diagon Alley, Lockhart, and then learning about how he was a Parselmouth during the dueling club. He then told her about all the people being petrified, how they brewed the Polyjuice potion so that they took to get into the Slytherin common room plus the hidden room in the Malfoy's drawing room. He also told her about how Hermione was able to find out what had attacked people before she too was petrified, and then about learning that Ginny had been took into the chamber.

"When Ron and I heard that Ginny had been taken we went to Lockhart, who had said that he knew where the entrance to the chamber was, and told him that we knew where the entrance really was and that we needed his help to save Ginny. It was when we took his wand and forced him to come with us that we finally got him into the chamber. Once there he tried to take Ron's wand and cast a memory charm on us, but the spell backfired and caused him to lose his own memory, as well as making it so only I could proceed into the chamber where Ginny was lying on the floor unmoving. When I saw her, I ran over and in the process dropped my wand, which was the biggest mistake I made.

"The memory of Tom Riddle, which was stored in the diary had been feeding off of Ginny's life force, and had managed to become real again. He picked up my wand and showed me that he was the heir of Slytherin, then called the basilisk out of its room and had it attack me, but Fawkes showed up with the sorting hat. After dropping the hat, Fawkes attacked the basilisk and destroyed its eyes. The basilisk could still smell me and so I ended up running for a while, until I put the Hat on and the Sword of Gryffindor fell out. After that I was chased up one of the statues in the chamber and just before the basilisk was able to kill me, I shoved the sword through its upper jaw and into its brain, but one of its fangs broke off in my arm and poisoned me. Before the poison took complete affect I was able to get back down to Ginny, but she still hadn't woken up, so I took the basilisk fang and stabbed it through the diary, which finally killed the memory of Riddle and allowed Ginny to wake back up. Before I lost consciousness, Fawkes came and cried into the wound, which cured the poison and healed the wound. After that Fawkes took me, Ginny, Ron, Lockhart, the Hat, plus the sword and flew us back up the pipes, where we made our way to the Headmaster's office." When he had finished Tonks was looking at him in awe of the things he had done.

"You really killed a basilisk and fought Voldemort twice in only two years?"

"Yeah – Hey you said Voldemort!"

"Well yeah I mean after learning that he is just a half-blood like us, it made me realize that it really is silly to be scared of his name," She replied, causing Harry to smile. "I want you to know that I am proud of how you acted, I know many Aurors who would have panicked under the same circumstances, you're incredibly brave."

Blushing Harry said, "I'm not brave Tonks, I was scared out of my mind most of the time."

"Harry being brave doesn't mean that you aren't scared, it means that you were able to get past the fear and do what you had to," She said causing Harry to blush again. "Harry I do have one question for you though."

"What is it?"

"You said that the diary held a memory of Tom Riddle, and was able to use Ginny to come back to life?"

"Yeah why?"

"Well I just don't know of any spells or enchantments that would allow him to do that. Well there is that one…"

"What one? Tonks?"

"Huh, oh sorry Harry. I was just thinking that there is one way to do what he did, but it is a very evil way, though it would give Voldemort a sort of immortality like he's been searching for."

"What Tonks?"

"Ok, have you ever heard of an Horcrux?"

"No, not that I know of. Why?"

"Well a Horcrux is an object that has a piece of someone's soul stored in it. It would allow the person to come back to life even if their body had been destroyed."

"So you think that the diary was a Horcrux?" Harry asked with a sense of growing horror, and inadvertently lowering his mental shields slightly.

"Yeah, I want to go to Madam Bones tomorrow and show her the memory of the chamber just to make sure."

"Ok, do you have an idea on how to get me out of here for the day?"

"Yeah, I can just make you a portkey to her office. I'll set it to activate at like 10am tomorrow, ok?"

"Yeah, sure Tonks."

"Good, now let's start on to your training."

"Ok, what do we do?" Harry said seemingly excited, before he collapsed on his bed screaming.

Jumping up Tonks immediately moved to Harry's side as he started to shake. "Harry what's wrong? Harry? Come on wake up, you're ok, come on Harry," Tanks said as Harry began to get worse. When he didn't respond to her, she picked him up and placed him on the bed, then sat beside him as she ran her fingers through his hair to try and calm him down.

Ten minutes later Harry finally stopped shaking and opened his eyes to look at Tonks. "Tonks?" Harry croaked.

"Harry! Are you ok? What happened?" Tonks asked with concern lacing her voice.

Groaning Harry said, "Voldemort…he was angry…_crucio'd_ followers."

"What? Harry I don't understand."

"Scar…is a link to… Voldemort… when he has strong emotions…I can feel the spells he uses…or see through his eyes…was how I was able to save Mr. Weasley last year."

With wide eyes Tonks replied, "Oh my god, you can actually feel the _crucios_ that Voldemort cast?"

"Yeah," Harry said groaning in pain from the aftereffects of the spell.

"Oh Harry, I need you sit up."

"Why?"

"I need to get you out of your clothes; you need to sleep to let the effects of the _crucio_ fade. Now sit up."

"'kay," Harry said as he sat up and let Tonks remove his shirt. Once his shirt was removed, she took off his shoes and socks before transfiguring his pants into pajama bottoms, as she couldn't easily remove them. Laying him back down she sat next to him as he closed his eyes and let her run her fingers through his hair, again until he was asleep. She stayed with him for a few moments more; before getting up, writing him a note, and creating a portkey to take him to Madam Bones office tomorrow, then leaving them on his desk where he was sure to find them, she disapparated to her post outside to finish her shift.

The next morning Harry woke up to the sound of someone pounding on his door. Rising quickly he went to the door and opened to see an upset Dudley. "Dudley?"

"Why weren't you downstairs?"

"Huh? What time is it?"

"It's 9:15 in the morning, you didn't show for training."

Eyes widening in realization Harry quickly came more awake. "Sorry Dudley, I had a rough night, I meant to tell you that today's practice was cancelled. I gotta be somewhere at 10, so you can just forget about today."

With a huff Dudley said, "Fine, but you better be there tomorrow."

"I will, if not I'll tell you later today."

Nodding his head Dudley turned and left. Harry now fully awakened went to his closet to grab some clothes. On the way he glanced at his desk, where he saw the note from Tonks.

_Harry,_

_I left after you went to sleep last night. We'll work on your training next time. This note is the portkey set to go off at 10 a.m. it will take you straight to Amelia Bones' office._

_Tonks_

Having finished the letter, Harry grabbed his clothes and showered quickly, before getting dressed and going back to his room, where he waited for 10 o'clock to arrive so he could get to the interview with Madam Bones. Just before 10, Harry grabbed the portkey and vanished a moment later.

At about the same time that Harry was leaving the bathroom Tonks was entering her boss's office. "Director," Tonks said.

"Auror Tonks, what brings you here this time?"

"Well, last night I was over at Harry's, we have been talking trying to get to know each other better by talking about our pasts, stuff like that." Seeing her boss, starting to look as if she was questioning why Tonks was telling her this, Tonks quickly continued, "Anyway, he was telling me about his second year and the events of the Chamber of Secrets, he told me of two things that happened, that made me think he should really bring this to your attention."

"What were those things?"

"First he told me of a time he and his friends took Polyjuice potion to sneak into the Slytherin common room, and had a conversation with Draco Malfoy. During that conversation, he found out that there is a hidden room in Malfoy Manor full of dark artifacts, it is somewhere in the Drawing room."

"Really, this is informative; but if I were to do anything, I would really need some form of proof before I can order a raid."

"I know, and that is one of the reasons I gave Harry a portkey, that should bring him here at 10am."

"Good thinking, now what was the other thing you learned from Mr. Potter that you needed to tell me about?"

"The other thing is when Harry went into the Chamber to rescue the girl who had been taken, he told me about a diary that held the memory of Tom Riddle's sixteen year old self." Seeing the look of surprise on her boss's face she said, "Yeah, anyway when I got to thinking about it I knew of no spells that could do something like that, so the only thing I knew of that could do that is a Horcrux." This got her boss to stiffen in her chair.

"Tonks, I don't need to tell you that this is disastrous if true."

"I know that, I wanted to make sure so when Harry gets here in…" looking down at her watch she said, "actually he should be here any minute now. Anyway when he gets here, I told him I would need him to show you the memories of the events that I just informed you about, so that you can decide for yourself if what I think it's true."

Nodding her head, Amelia Bones just sat there in silence as she thought about what she had just been told. Two minutes later, Harry Potter landed in her office. After he stood back up from falling on the floor from his landing, he greeted the two women in the room.

"Mr. Potter, I have just been speaking to Ms. Tonks, and she told me some of what you two talked about last night. I'm sure you can understand the importance of what you told her, and that I need to see the memories for myself." Madam bones said, immediately getting down to business.

"Yes, wait memories?" he asked in confusion.

"Yes, she told me of the incident in the Chamber of Secrets and of a conversation with Draco Malfoy about a hidden room filled with dark artifacts."

Comprehension visible in his eyes Harry said, "Sorry, I forgot about the conversation with Malfoy. After Tonks told me about what the diary could be and its implications it slipped my mind."

"Completely understandable under the circumstances," Madam Bones said in understanding.

"Before I show you the memory of the Chamber I need to know what you know about that incident," Harry said.

"Why?"

"One of my friends was involved in the crimes committed during that time, and I do not want to see them punished. They were under the control of Riddle and had no control over what they did."

"Okay, I can understand that. To answer question, I know very little. I know that the Chamber of Secrets was opened, and that students were being petrified; that Fudge arrested Hagrid and sent him to Azkaban for the crime, even though there was no proof. Then it was found out that a Ginevra Weasley was taken into the Chamber, and shortly after that, you and her brother Ronald rescued her. After that we were told by Headmaster Dumbledore that the matter had been resolved, and the monster was killed."

Eyes wide with shock Harry said, "I'm surprised he didn't tell you the truth."

"Who?"

"Albus Dumbledore. Okay here is what happened, first Hagrid never opened the Chamber the first time and didn't open it the second time. To open the Chamber you have to be able to speak Parselmouth, to control the monster you have to be a Parselmouth also, because the monster was a basilisk. Next, the part about Ginny being taken into the Chambers and Ron and I rescuing her is correct, however the person responsible was Ginny Weasley herself, well at least physically for the crimes."

"Wait what do you mean only physically?"

"Exactly that, the diary that I am assuming Tonks told you about, was able to take control of Ginny's body and force her to open the Chamber, and order the basilisk to attack the muggleborn students. She had no control over her body."

"But if she was able to open the Chamber and control the basilisk, she would have had to be in control to do that," Madam Bones said.

"No. I mean, I wasn't born with the ability to speak Parselmouth but I can still do it. It is my belief that the diary was able to give Ginny the ability, when she needed it to open the Chamber and control the basilisk."

"Wait that is not possible. If you aren't born with the ability than it is impossible to gain the ability," Madam Bones said as if she were stating a question.

"That is where you are wrong. When Voldemort killed my parents and attempted to kill me when I was a baby, he ended up transferring the ability to speak Parselmouth to me."

"Amazing," She said in fascination. A few seconds later, she came back to herself and said, "Ok Mr. Potter, I will give you my word that your friend will come to no harm for their action in the events you mentioned, if it can be proven that they were under some form of mind control."

Knowing that it would be easy enough to prove that he said, "Good, now if you would get your pensieve I can extract the memories, and then give you the proof you need."

Nodding her head, Madam Bones rose from her chair as she walked over to a cabinet and retrieved her pensieve, before setting it on her desk and motioning for Tonks to extract the memories from Harry's mind. Seeing the command Tonks moved over to Harry, raised the tip of her wand to his temple, and told him to concentrate on the memory of the Chamber. Screwing his face into a look of concentration Harry nodded to show his readiness, before Tonks slowly pulled the tip of her wand away with a thin silvery string attached, which she dropped into the basin of the pensieve. Bringing the tip of her wand back to his temple, Tonks told Harry to concentrate on the memory of his conversation with Draco, before depositing it into the pensieve too. Gathering closer to the pensieve, they all put a finger into it before finding themselves in Harry's memories.

Twenty minutes later, they emerged with Harry looking a little upset, and the two witches looking somewhat apprehensive about the scenes they had viewed. Madam Bones was the first to speak, "You have certainly given me a lot to think about, but I can tell you now that what we feared about the diary is true, it is an Horcrux."

"So what do we do now?" Tonks asked.

After thinking about the situation for a few moments Madam Bones replied, "First I will arrange for a raid on Malfoy Manor to search for the hidden room, and then we will have to arrange for a team to investigate into the Horcruxes."

"Okay, two questions." Harry said, "First what is likely to happen to the Malfoys if the room is found? And second Horcruxes?"

"To the Malfoy question, if the room is found and it does contain dark artifacts they will be arrested and tried. If it is proven that they knew of the artifacts, then they will likely be stripped of title, land, and funds. If it is found that they used any of the dark artifacts, then they will be sentenced to prison. For your second question, yes Horcruxes. I don't know how many but I know that there is at least one more in existence. If there was only the diary, then Voldemort would never have been able to come back, as his soul would have been destroyed when you destroyed the diary."

"Okay," Harry said as he thought about what he had just heard. "So how are you going to investigate the matter of the Horcruxes?" Harry asked as a plan was forming in his head.

"That will be much more difficult, but to start, I will have the investigation that Ms. Tonks is doing into Tom Riddle increased, meaning that I am going to be assigning more people to work under her for the investigation, hopefully allowing us to uncover information about any other Horcruxes he might have made," Madam Bones said.

"I might have a way that can help with finding information about the Horcruxes," Harry said with a slightly nervous tone.

"Really?" Bones asked in surprise. "What is that?"

"Did Tonks tell you about anything that happened after we finished talking last night?"

"No," Madam Bones said slowly. "Why?"

"What I am about to tell you I do not want anyone, to find out about. I need you to swear, that you will not divulge any of this information."

"Granted, you have my word that none of what you speak here will be said to anyone outside this room."

"Thank you. Now what I was going to tell you is that last year it was discovered that I have a link to Voldemort, a mental link. When he is especially emotional or when I am asleep, I can feel any spells he casts and he can show me visions, which is what caused me to be in the Department of Mysteries. How this might be able to help is I think that I might be able to use the link, to go into Voldemort's mind. The only problem with this is that I do not know how to enter a person's mind, I would need a Legilimens to train me."

"I don't think this is a good idea, it would be very dangerous for you to do. However, I do agree that it would be a fast way to learn about the information," Madam Bones said.

"I know that it could be very dangerous, and unpleasant to do, but it is something that I can do that would help, and would make it so that no one else risks their life to find out the information. Besides we don't even know if it is possible, at least give me the training so that we can find out. Worst case is that we find out that I can't do it, and I now have the training to be a Legilimens. Best case is that we do find out that I can, and if that is the case I will tell you and will allow you to supervise me when I do try to get the information from his mind, so that you could stop anything from happening to me before I am permanently injured."

Thinking about it Madam Bones finally said, "Okay, we'll do both. I will have Tonks train you in Legilimency to at least give you the basics; and I will still have people researching into Riddle's background, so that if your plan doesn't work we will not have wasted any time."

Looking somewhat happy and scared at the same time Harry nodded his head. "Good, and just between you and me, I hope your plan works and we don't have to use mine. I don't look forward to being in Voldemort's mind."

"I wouldn't want to be there either. Now if there is nothing else, I think it is time for you to go. I have to organize the raid and the investigation," Madam Bones said in dismissal.

"Actually there are two things I was hoping you could help me with," Harry said.

"And what are those?"

"First, I was hoping you could get me a portkey that would bring me to the Ministry. There is a possibility that I won't be returning to Hogwarts this year, and I might need a way to get away from Dumbledore. The second is that now that I am emancipated, I was wondering if you could arrange it for me to learn how to apparate."

"For the first of your requests, yes I could give you a portkey, but why would Dumbledore stop you from leaving Hogwarts? Second, since you are emancipated you do not need me to do anything; but seeing that you are trying to keep this information quiet, I will have Tonks train you to apparate as well." Madame Bones said knowing that she was assigning Tonks more work, but she rationalized it as being able to play matchmaker. She knew of the marriage and that the two would not be able to spend a lot of time getting to know each other so she gave Tonks reason to be around harry more often.

"Dumbledore might try and stop me from leaving, because he believes that Hogwarts is the safest place for me now, and that he has the right to make decisions for me."

"I see, very well," Madam Bones said as she took a quill from her desk and cast the portkey spell on it. "Here is the portkey, the activation word is 'freedom,' if you are forced to use it; it will bring you to the atrium of the ministry."

"Thank you," Harry said as he accepted the portkey and put it in one of his pockets. He then stood and headed for the door before stopping. "Tonks, how am I getting back?"

Thinking for a second she said, "Give me the piece of parchments that I made the portkey out of to bring you here." After he had done so she recast the portkey spell on it and said, that it would take him back to his bedroom. Thanking her, he grabbed the portkey and immediately disappeared. Tonks then headed towards the door.

"Madam Bones, I will get back to my research now, if you don't need me here anymore."

"No, you can go. No wait," she said before Tonks opened the door. "I know I assigned you a lot of training to do with Mr. Potter, so I will be assigning you to work with him for five hours three times a week as part of your official duty. Also I will call you back here, when I have a team ready to go on the Malfoy raid and for the research you are currently doing."

Nodding her head in thanks, as she had been worried about how she was going to be able to do her job, train Harry, and do her assignments for the Order; she then left the office to allow her boss to get to work.

Harry spent the rest of Saturday and the next two days, getting back into his routine and studying as much as possible. During that time, he had been able to create a functional _Protego_ shield spell, making it so that three main spells he wanted to accomplish, he was capable of casting wandlessly. After he had accomplished that, he began to try new spells so that his wandless ability was growing, he did become worried that something wrong was happening as he was progressing faster than the book said he should be. At the rate he was going, he figured that he should be able to do most spells without a wand by the end of the year if not sooner.

Now that he had also accomplished his goal for wandless magic, Harry began to read new spells from the books he bought earlier in the summer. In this area, he noticed that he was able to pick up the spells faster than ever before. When he asked Tonks about it during their next meeting she told him that it was likely because he was able to focus better on the effects of the spell because of all the mental exercises that Occlumency, wandless magic, and Metamorphmagus training required.

Harry also had another training session with Tonks, where he learned that morphing was in theory much easier than he had thought. It mainly required, an intense amounts of concentration and a better than average understanding of the human body. He needed to know all the parts of the body plus where they are located, as morphing required him to be able to change those internal features, as well as the external ones. Tonks was there mainly as a couch, and to make sure that all his body parts got back to there original places once a morph was complete. Now even as simple as the theory was, it was still very difficult to affect the changes, as he would use too much or too little magic, therefore cause the changes to happen incorrectly or not at all. During that session, they decided that they would continue their information exchange after he had moved to Grimmauld Place, so that Harry could start learning how to make more major changes when morphing.

During that time, Harry had also received his new wand from Ollivander, when he first held it; he felt a connection that surpassed even the one his original wand gave him. He now felt as if he had more power than he did before, when he tried out new spells with it. When he tried the _Wingardium Leviosa_ charm he found that his new wand had far more control and that the power it gave him was incredible. With his original wand the charm would make small and medium sized objects hover with ease but with his new wand he was able to make things as large as his bed float effortlessly with far less drain on his magic.


	8. Chapter 8

A/N I do not own Harry Potter

Chapter 8

When Tuesday morning dawned, Harry did his usual morning workout but skipped lunch in favor of his lunch meeting with Tonks and her parents. At 12:30, Tonks showed up in his bedroom. "Wotcher Harry."

"Hey Tonks. Time to go?"

"Yep. Ready?"

With a nervous look at Tonks. "I guess."

"Don't worry about it. They're nice people, they just want to meet you and find out what your like,." Tonks said trying to reassure him. "You don't want them to believe that you're like what the papers portray, do you?"

"NO!"

"Then come on we need to be there soon."

"Alright,." Harry said as he made a decision and extended his hand to Tonks. "Let's go."

Surprised at his initiative she took his hand and followed as he opened his bedroom door and stepped into the hall allowing Harry to close the door behind her. Walking down the stairs and passing the kitchen, she saw Harry's relatives as they were eating lunch. Pausing in the doorway as Harry told his relatives that he was going to be going out and that he would be back later. When he had finished they quickly turned and left the house she let out a small laugh at the reactions her presence caused among his relatives.

Looking at Tonks Harry asked, "What's so funny?"

"The faces of your relatives."

"Hmm?"

"They were sitting with their mouths open when they saw me,." Tonks explained.

With a small laugh Harry said, "Yeah, I think they were trying to find out how you got there and why you were with me."

With a confused look Tonks asked, "What do you mean why I am with you?"

"They have always seen me as a freak and they can't come to terms that a woman like you would be holding my hand." Harry said with a casual indifference.

"A woman like me?"

"Yeah, when you have a 'normal' hair color, you fit their idea of a very beautiful woman,." Harry said while fighting a blush.

"And what about you? Do I fit your idea of a very beautiful woman?" She asked with a teasing smile.

Blushing Harry simply nodded as they continued on to the restaurant while idly chatting still hand in hand.

When they had reached the restaurant they entered and were led to the table where Tonks parents were already seated and waiting for them. "Mum, Dad this is Harry. Harry, this is my dad Ted and this is my mum Andromeda,." Tonks said as she indicated each in turn.

"Mr. and Mrs. Tonks it's nice to meet you,." Harry greeted as he shook both their hands. Looking at them Harry saw that Ted was of average height, maybe six feet tall, he was in decent shape, had brown hair and eyes. Altogether, he was a fairly non-descript man. Andromeda on the other hand had inherited the beauty of her sisters Narcissa and Bellatrix. She had red hair that reached her mid back with chocolate brown eyes, her figure was also incredible;, she was about five foot eight and was full figured.

"Mr. Potter it's a pleasure to meet you." Andromeda said in greeting.

With a nervous smile Harry said, "Please call me Harry, I feel like I am in trouble when people call me Mr. Potter."

"Sure Harry, but you will have to call me Andy then, and my husband Ted." Andromeda said with an easy smile.

"Ok," Harry said as he sat down at the table feeling somewhat reassured after helping Tonks to her seat.

"So Harry tell us about yourself. We only know a little from what Nym told us and what the papers have said,." Andy said.

"Um sure ok, well I just finished my fifth year and will be turning 16 tomorrow. My favorite class is DADA and I play seeker for Gryffindor."

"Ok, that really isn't all that much. What else?" Ted asked.

"I'm not really sure what you mean?" Harry said a little nervous.

"What he means is there has to be other stuff about yourself that you can tell us,." Andromeda said.

"What would you like to know?"

"Well what do you want to do after school?" Andy asked.

"I'm thinking about being an Aauror, but last year I taught some defense stuff to other students and realized that I liked teaching so I might do that." Harry said.

"What classes do you think you'll take next year?"

"Probably Charms, Transfiguration, DADA and Potions if I can get in; but I am not sure that I will be continuing at Hogwarts,." Harry answered.

Looking startled Ted asked, "What do you mean? You aren't going to finish you're schooling?"

"No, no, no, I am going to finish my education," Harry said quickly. "I just might not finish it at Hogwarts. Dumbledore and I do not see eye-to-eye on a lot of things so I've looked into going to either Beauxbatons or beginning an apprenticeship."

"So you are going to complete your NEWTS?" Andromeda asked.

"Yes I am," answered Harry.

"Oh good," Andy said releasing a sigh. "So who have you applied to for apprenticeship?"

"Nicholas Flamel, I found his name on a list of masters accepting apprentices and figured that with as long as he has been alive he would be able to teach me what I would need to know,." Harry explained.

"Who?" Ted asked.

Turning to her father Tonks explained, "Dad, Nicholas Flamel is probably the oldest wizard in existence. He is a master of alchemy and created the Philosopher's Sstone. An object that is known to do two things: transmute metal into gold or create the Elixir of Life which gives the user extraordinary long life."

"Oh." Ted said after realizing the importance of this man. "So just how old is he?"

"I think he is just over six hundred years old," Harry replied causing Ted's jaw to drop.

Recovering a moment later Ted decided to change the subject and asked, "So Harry, what are your plans for my daughter?"

"Honestly…" Harry began, organizing his thoughts after the abrupt change in subject. "I've only known about the marriage for a few weeks and am still getting to know her. I mean I am only fifteen years old and despite the fact that I have done things most adults haven't I still have very little experience with having a family. My aunt and uncle don't qualify. So all I can say is that I plan to marry her, support her, help her in everything that she does and just make sure we are as happy as possible in our lives."

Giving Harry a genuine smile Ted replied, "Good answer," causing Harry to breathe a sigh of relief.

Seeing Harry relax after his comment Ted gave a short laugh, which was soon joined by Andromeda and Tonks.

"Stop worrying Harry we just want to get to know you,." Andromeda relied when she finished laughing. "However, before we continue I need to use the restroom," She said rising from the table. "Nymphadora, I'm sure you need to use it also."

Looking up at her mother Tonks started to reply "No not rea—…lly," stopping when she saw her mother's you're-coming-with-me-whether-you-want-to-or-not glares. Rising from her seat she said, "Actually I think I do need to use the loo, be right back," before following her mother.

Looking confused Harry turned his attention back to Ted who had a small smile on his face. "Um Ted, what was that?" Harry asked his confusion clear.

"That was something you'll probably never understand,." Ted said with a small laugh. "Don't worry after over twenty years of marriage I still don't understand."

"Okay…" Harry said not understanding but willing to let it go.

"So Harry how long have you known my daughter?" Ted asked making conversation.

After having entered the bathroom following her mother Tonks finally spoke,. "Ok Mum, so what did you want to say that Dad and Harry couldn't hear?"

"I don't know what you mean Nimmie.," Andromeda said with false innocence.

Rolling her eyes Tonks said, "Right Mum I believe you."

"Oh fine, just thought we'd have a little girl talk."

"Girl talk?" Tonks said looking at her mother with surprise.

"Yeah, even before you found out about the marriage you never had a serious boyfriend. And now you have a fiancé, so…" She finished looking at her daughter expectantly.

"So… what?" Tonks asked not understanding what her mother was trying to say.

"So, just how far have you gone with this boy?" Andromeda asked grinning at the groan Tonks let out.

"…"

"…"

"Oh fine, we haven't done anything, we've talked and he held my hand as we walked here today but that's it,." Tonks said in exasperation.

"Really?" Andromeda asked with surprise. Her daughter was usually fairly expressive about her feelings and from what she could tell, her daughter does like Harry.

"Yeah I mean I like him, and I know that he likes me as a friend and finds me attractive but he hasn't tried anything, not even a small kiss,." Tonks said confused by Harry's lack of affection.

"Well say that he never has had a real family, so it may just be that he doesn't know how to act,." Andromeda said thinking about what Tonks had told her.

Eyes widening in realization Tonks said, "You're right, I mean the only family he has known are his aunt and uncle and the Weasleys." Stopping to think about that information Tonks shoulders suddenly slumped. "So what do I do? I mean he doesn't know what to do and he is not the kind of person to talk to others about this."

"Nymphadora," Andromeda said quietly. "I think this is one time where you are going to have to take the first step. You will have to show him how you want him to act towards you. Just think of it this way, he has no expectations or beliefs about relationships, you will be able to make him into the perfect husband material,." She said the last part with a small laugh.

Smiling in agreement Tonks laughed as well. "Ok Mum enough girl talk, I think we should get back. Who knows what Dad is talking to Harry about?"

"Yeah, you're probably right. He always did like to joke about being able to tell your boyfriends embarrassing stories about your childhood,." Andromeda said laughing at the look of horror on Tonks face before she watched daughter turn and run out of the restroom.

Tonks ran back to the table was just in time to hear her father say "Yeah and then she morphed her waist smaller so her pants would fit better, she just didn't have as good of control as she thought and ended up morphing her waist to the point that her pants fell down, showing off her pink heart knickers." Tonks saw her father was just barely able to finish the story before she reached the table asnd he and Harry broke down laughing.

Blushing furiously Tonks simply dropped into her chair next to Harry covering her face with her hands. The laughing continued until Andromeda returned to the table a minute later asking what was so funny.

"I was just telling Harry about Tonks 15th birthday party,." Ted said when he finished laughing.

"I remember that, Nymphadora wouldn't come out of her room until almost twenty minutes later,." Andromeda said with a bright smile on her face.

"If you're done embarrassing me in front of my future husband, maybe we could talk about something else,." Tonks said in a huff, desperate to get the attention off her self.

"What do you want to talk about?" Ted asked his daughter. "Cause there are still several more stories I could tell Harry, I mean there was the time at the beach when you were twelve and then there was also the time-"

"Dad!" Tonks cried out trying to stop him before he could mention anything else. "Please."

Taking pity on his daughter Ted relented. "So what was it you wanted to talk about?"

"Well since we are all here, I was thinking that we could discuss plans for the wedding,." Tonks said causing her mother to perk up at the topic.

"Okay…" Harry and Ted said at the same time, wary of the enthusiasm of the two women.

Ignoring the men Andy leaned forward closing the distance between her daughter and herself. "So have you decided on a date yet?"

"No, but I was thinking sometime around Christmas, when Harry is off school for the holidays. I mean I know that we can wait for an entire year if we want, but now that everyone knows that Voldemort is back, I would rather have the wedding sooner than later,." Tonks said fairly quickly, before turning to Harry with an obvious look of questioning.

Looking amused and thoughtful at the same time Harry simply smiled and agreed. Amused at Tonks enthusiasm and thoughtful because it finally started to become real that he would be married to Tonks within the next few months.

"Ok, so a winter wedding. Before we go any further, I think we should find out what the budget is,." Andy said turning to look at Harry.

Tonks and her father wanting to know the answer also, turned to face Harry.

"Well, um I don't really know how much a wedding costs so is 100,000 galleons enough?" Harry asked causing all three of the Tonks' family member's jaws to drop. Seeing their surprise he asked, "What?" nNot understanding what was wrong.

"Harry, you do know that most families don't make even 1/10th of that every year? Right?" Ted asked overcoming his shock first. "I mean can you even afford to spend that much money? I was hoping you had about one or two thousand, even that would allow for a nice wedding."

"Oh…" Harry said feeling foolish. "No I didn't know that. But I can afford that much, Sirius and my parents left me several million galleons each."

This statement caused both Ted and Andromeda's mouths to open in shock again, having had no idea that the man in front of them so wealthy.

A few moments later after they had recovered from their shock, the group continued discussing plans for the wedding for another hour before they paid for their meal and after some goodbyes left for their respective homes. Harry and Tonks walking back to Privet Drive hand in hand just as they did walking to the restaurant. Tonks wanting there to be more affection in their relationship hugged Harry goodbye as they reached the front door. Harry surprised at the sudden contact stiffened slightly before relaxing into the embrace. Happy that he hadn't pulled away Tonks decided to take it a bit further and gave him a quick kiss on the lips before pulling away and leaving Harry confused on the front porch.

The next morning Harry woke up still confused over the kiss Tonks had given him last night. He knew that as her fiancé that he was going to be intimate with her but he didn't know why she would kiss him.

Deciding that he really didn't care at the moment he decided to let her do what she wanted seeing he really didn't mind being kissed by her, as it wasn't the wet kiss he had experienced with Cho.

After packing his trunk for his trip to Grimmauld Place Harry went about his normal training routine one last time before paying the remainder of the money to his relatives he returned to his room to practice his occulemencyOcclumency knowing he would need the calm it brought when he was dealing with the consequences of his and Tonks' announcement tonight.

It wasn't until one o'clock that afternoon that Moony, Moody, and Tonks showed up in his bedroom.

"Ready Harry?" asked Moony as he walked over to Harry and enveloped him in a hug. "How've you been?"

"Fine."

Not believing Harry Remus stared at him taking in his appearance.

"Really Moony I'm fine. I'm just glad to be outta here,." Harry said giving a slight smile at Remus' probing look before turning to Tonks and Moody and saying hello, however with Tonks he gave a hug similar to the one she gave him last night drawing raised eyebrows from the other two.

"Potter," Moody greeted.

"Wotcher Harry,." Tonks greeted as she returned ther hug, pleased that he was more showing more affection of his emotions.

"All packed Potter?" Moody growled.

"Yeah, I was just waiting for you to get here,." Harry said as he pointed to his trunk and Hedwig's owl cage.

"Good, better let your owl go. We're going be using a portkey and yer owl ain't likely to appreciate that,." Moody explained.

"Okay," Harry said going over to Hedwig's cage and letting her out of her cage. "Hey girl, I'm gonna be leavin here so I want you to meet me at 12 Grimmauld Place." Nipping his finger gently Hedwig flew out the window.

Turning around Harry saw that Moody had already brought his trunk into the middle of the room and had an old book out that Remus and Tonks were holding onto as well.

Just as Harry was about to walk over and join them an owl flew in and landed next to Harry. Looking down Harry saw there was a letter attached to its leg, reaching down he took it off the owl's leg.

"What's that?" Moody growled suspicious.

"A letter,." Hary replied opening the letter, reading it quickly.

_Dear Mr. Potter,_

_It is my pleasure to inform you that after reading your request I have granted you apprenticeship under me. This letter will turn into a portkey that will activate at noon August 25th, be ready._

_Your Master,  
_

_Nicholas Flamel._

Finishing the letter Harry had a huge grin on his face he turned to Tonks and said, "He accepted."

After a moment of confusion, Tonks returned his smile and asked, "Are you going to accept?"

"Of course."

"It's an incredible opportunity," Tonks said happy for Harry. "Now we need to get going so get over here."

Walking over to the others Harry held onto his trunk as the portkey activated leaving the smallest bedroom of Number 4 Privet Drive empty.

A/N: I know I mentioned Harry buying another snowy owl and she will come into play later.

Also I want to apologize to everyone for taking so long for this chapter, school was taking more of my time than usual.


	9. Chapter 9

A/N: I do not own Harry Potter

Chapter 9

Picking himself off the ground from where he landed when the portkey dropped him, Harry turned to help Tonks from her fallen state getting a smile of thanks in return.

"Come on, we need to get inside. Shouldn't be sittin outside for very long." Moody growled his eyes scanning the street.

Rolling his eyes at Moody's well known paranoia Harry grabbed his trunk while Tonks and Remus grabbed the owl cages and went inside 12 Grimmauld Place. Entering the hallway Harry was almost immediately tackled into a hug by fast moving blur with bushy-brown hair.

"Hey Hermione," Harry said returning the hug.

"Harry! How are you?" Hermione asked as soon as she released him from the hug.

"I'm good," Harry said smiling at her look of incredulity. "Really."

Looking at her friend with disbelief Hermione just shook saying, "Fine come on, you'll be staying with Ron," before leading him up the stairs.

"Hey mate!" Ron said thumping Harry on the back as he walked into the room and dropped his trunk by his bed. "It's good to see you."

"Hey!" Harry replied greeting his friend in kind. "So what have you guys been doing?"

"Ung, Mums been havin us clean the whole time."

"Sounds like you've been having fun." Harry said laughing before sitting down on his bed to catch up with his friends.

* * *

"So what was that with Harry?" Remus asked Tonks with a grin. 

"What was what?"

"You and Harry when we were picking him up. You were the only one who got a hug from him," Remus said grinning at Tonks.

Breaking into a smile Tonks replied, "So were you wanting a hug from Harry? I mean he is kinda cute but I didn't know you played for that team."

Hearing this Remus blushed slightly knowing he walked right into that comment. "That's not what I meant, and I am very attracted to women," he replied with an obvious leer in Tonks direction.

"I'm flattered, really," Tonks said dryly noticing his look. "And what's between me and Harry is exactly that between us."

"So there is something going on between you two?"

"We're just friends Remus." Tonks said. Which was true at the moment, what they would be later was irrelevant to this conversation.

"Whose just friends?" Mrs. Weasley asked walking into the dining room.

"Me and Harry," Tonks replied.

"Well that's nice, the boy needs more friends." Mrs. Weasley replied. "Oh Tonks dear, would you mind going to get the children, dinners ready and Albus, Minerva and Severus are going to here."

"Sure Molly." Tonks leaving the room.

* * *

"Wotcher guys!" Tonks greeted as she walked into Ron and Harry's bedroom, seeing the trio talking. 

"Hey Tonks," they greeted.

"So what have you been doing? Not planning on overthrowing the school this year are you?" Tonks asked with a teasing grin.

"Of course not!" Hermione replied looking scandalized.

Grinning Tonks replied, "I'm sure, anyway Molly wants you downstairs for dinner."

"Yes food!" Ron yelled with a hand going to his stomach.

"Is that all you think about?" Hermione asked Ron the time-old question.

"I'm a growing boy," Ron replied using an answer just as old.

Rolling his eyes Harry got up from the bed and walked to the door standing next to Tonks "Come on let's go, I miss Mrs. Weasley's cooking." Turning he walked out the door with Tonks following.

Leaning in close Tonks whispered to Harry, "Dumbledore and Severus are going to be here tonight. Are you going to tell them now?"

Replying in kind Harry said, "I think we should, and the longer we wait the more upset people will be when we tell them."

"Ok," she whispered before raising her voice so Ron and Hermione could hear too. "You guys go on down I need to go find Ginny."

Watching her walk away, Harry waited for his friends to catch up. "What was that about?" Hermione asked suspicious.

"What was what?" Harry asked feigning ignorance.

"You and Tonks mate. You were standing awfully close and whispering to each other," Ron said with a sly grin on his face.

"Nothing," Harry said fighting a blush. "We're just friends. She came over during the summer and we hung out together."

"Uh huh…" Hermione mumbled still looking at Harry as if she knew Harry was hiding something.

"Really! Now come on," Harry said turning around heading down the stairs trying to get away from this conversation, not wanting to have it with them until later when he could tell everyone all at once.

Sharing a look Ron and Hermione followed Harry down the stairs.

* * *

Sitting at the table, Harry was joined a moment later by his two best friends who sat opposite him at the table. Harry was trying to ignore their glances in is direction, not wanting to answer their questions. Thankfully, Harry was saved from answering by the rest of the dinner guests arriving. 

"Ah Harry, how are you?" Headmaster Dumbledore asked, with a kindly smile on his face.

With little emotion in his voice Harry replied, "I'm fine sir," causing the twinkle in the Headmaster's eyes to dim slightly.

"I'm pleased to hear that," Albus said as he and the other teachers sat at the end of the table.

Tonks having entered at the same time as the professors shot Harry a look of support before she and Ginny sat down on either side him.

In an effort to break the silence that ensued from the Headmaster and Harry's short conversation professor McGonagall said, "I thought you would like to know that I brought your OWL results with me."

Hearing this Hermione perked up asking, "Can we see them now?"

"No, Ms. Granger I believe it might be better if I gave them to you after you've eaten, otherwise I doubt you would eat anything at all," McGonagall said with a slight smile on her face. Knowing what her favorite student's reaction would be; running off to the library to find a listing of all the career choices she had based on the NEWT courses she could take.

Blushing slightly Hermione simply nodded her head as she began to pile food onto her plate before eating at a rate that would have matched Ron's at his hungriest.

Seeing this everyone started laughing as they, at a much more sedate pace, began to help themselves to the food Molly had prepared. The rest of the meal was spent eating and enjoying small talk.

When everyone had finished eating, Hermione being the first done, McGonagall passed out the Trio's results.

Despite not attending Hogwarts in the Fall Harry was still nervous about his results. Opening his letter, he found:

_OWL Results for 1995-1996 School Year_

_Recipient: Harry James Potter, Gryffindor_

_For each test taken the possible scores are Outstanding, Exceeds Expectations, __Acceptable, Poor, Dreadful, and Troll._

_**Subject: Score:**_

_AstronomyA_

_Care of Magical CreaturesE_

_CharmsO_

_DivinationP_

_Defense Against the Dark ArtsO_

_HerbologyA_

_HistoryD_

_TransfigurationE_

_PotionsE_

_Total: 7 OWLS out of a possible 9_

_Congratulations, you are eligible to take the following courses: Care of Magical Creatures, Charms, Defense Against the Dark Arts, and Transfiguration._

_Sincerely,_

_OWL Examination Board._

Harry let out a sigh of relief. It was not as good as he hoped but he had done much better than he thought he would, especially in Potions. Looking up from his letter he said, "I got seven OWLs! What did you get Hermione, Ron?"

Smiling at her friend "I got 10 OWLS! O's in everything but History. I only got an E in that," she finished with a small frown on her face making everyone else snort in amusement.

"Oh no! Only an E, now you'll never be able to get a good job." Tonks joked at Hermione - well aware of the girl's perfectionist attitude from her time with Harry – causing her to blush.

"I know Hermione, you're still the smartest witch in our class," Ron said smiling at his friend. "I only got six OWLS."

"That's wonderful Ron, I'm so proud of you!" Mrs. Weasley exclaimed at her son. "You did very well too," She said to Harry and Hermione.

"Yes they did," Professor Dumbledore said. "Ms. Granger scored the highest in almost all subjects. Only Mr. Potter scored higher than her in Defense and Mr. Longbottom scored higher in Herbology."

Hearing this Hermione blushed again at the Headmaster's praise.

"Yes, very well done Ms Granger," McGonagall praised before turning to Harry. "Mr. Potter I know that when we spoke last term that you wanted to become an Auror. To do that you need to have a NEWT in Potions, however I have spoken to Professor Snape and he has agreed to allow you into his class on a probationary basis."

"Yes Potter, you will have to show that your score on the OWL was not a fluke. If I see anything less than an E potion then you will be dropped from my class." Snape sneered at Harry as if the very thought that Harry could do it was impossible.

Dropping his face into an emotionless mask Harry replied in a cool voice, "Thank you _Professor _for the kind offer, however I must decline your _generosity._"

At this Snape started to turn an impressive shade of red and was about to rebuke Harry with his usual animosity when McGonagall spoke up, "Mr. Potter you will need Potions to become an Auror, you really have no choice in the matter."

"I'm aware of that Professor McGonagall, and while I appreciate what you did for me to be allowed into Potions I will not be enrolling into Potions this year," Harry said giving his professor a slight smile in gratitude.

"So Potter, do you think that just because you're famous that the Aurors will allow you to join them." Snape sneered at him, making Harry wonder if Snape had spoken to him without a sneer.

"No." Harry replied calmly not lowering himself to Snape's level. "I still intend to become an Auror, however I will not be joining your Potions class because I will not be returning to Hogwarts this fall."

This statement caused all heads at the table to snap to him with wide eyes.

"So school finally becomes too hard for you and you're just going to quit," Snape said, again with the sneer on his face.

"Hardly Snape."

"_Professor_ Snape, Harry." Dumbledore corrected. "And you must return to Hogwarts this Fall, you need to finish your education."

"I intend to finish my education, just not at Hogwarts," Harry said ignoring the first part of the Headmaster's statement.

"You must return to Hogwarts. It is the safest place for you to be during the year when you're not at your Aunt's," Dumbledore said a hint of steel in his voice.

"Yes Harry, besides Hogwarts is the best school in Europe," Hermione said finally coming out of her shock.

"Hogwarts is not the safest place Headmaster, despite what you think." Harry said, seeing the Headmaster about to comment Harry continued. "Every year I have been put into the Hospital wing, usually because of your teachers. First year when Ron, Hermione, and I went after the Sorcerers Stone and I was attacked by Quirrell. Second year I was put into the Hospital wing because a teacher you hired vanished the bones in my arm and because of a basilisk. Third year because an escaped convict that you believed was out to kill me was able to break into Gryffindor House and even into the very room I was sleeping in. In my Fourth year I was entered into a tournament that ended with a student being killed and me facing Voldemort again. And finally in Fifth year I was mind raped by a teacher of yours and tortured with a blood quill by another teacher," Harry said not looking away from the Headmaster except to glance in Snape's direction when he talked about being mind raped.

"And Hermione, I doubt Hogwarts is the best school in Europe. In five years we have only had one decent DADA professors. Two worked for Voldemort, one was a fraud, and the other was a ministry lackey. The Divination professor just predicts that I am going to die every time I have her class. And in Potions we have been taught nothing, every class we sit down and then are told to follow the directions on the board as if we we're doing nothing more complicated than cooking. We were given no instruction on how to prepare the ingredients and when a student does make the correct potion, it is ridiculed or we have points taken off because we didn't help the people next to us make their potion as well theirs," Harry said having turned to Hermione.

Despite not wanting to believe it Hermione was unable to refute what Harry had said, especially when he didn't get hysterical when describing the poor education at Hogwarts, and sat there with her mouth open.

During the whole explanation, Snape was becoming even more apoplectic at Harry's lack of respect towards him. "Why you little-"

"Yes Snape?" Harry said cutting him off still not showing any emotion. Turning to Dumbledore Harry continued, "I find it interesting Professor that you continue to say that I should show respect to Snape, when he has shown none to me. From what I have learned during my time at Hogwarts is that respect is earned not given and he has done nothing to earn respect."

"He is a professor and the position if nothing else requires you to show respect," Professor Dumbledore spoke sternly.

"If he had taught us anything, I would," Harry replied just as firmly.

It was at this time that Snape finally lost control of his temper and drew his wand on Harry. Seeing this Harry flicked his wrist sending his wand into it from his forearm holster and cast the strongest _Expelliarmus _he could sending Snape's wand into his hand and sending Snape into the wall behind where he collapsed unconscious.

"HARRY!"

"Put away your wand Mr. Potter!" Dumbledore said his twinkle gone and his wand in his hand pointing it at Harry as McGonagall went to check on Snape.

"Certainly Professor," Harry said calmly putting his Holly and Phoenix feather wand into his holster. "I hope you don't mind but I am going on to hold onto Snape's wand."

"I think you should give it to me. Having his wand on you when you get a letter from Madam Hopkirk will not help you," Dumbledore said, his voice quiet, threatening.

"Why would I get a letter?" Harry asked. "I was defending myself from someone who is a marked Death Eater. And even if you say he is a spy for us. It would be my word versus his and right now, I am very popular with the people. Who do you think would win?" Harry said causing everyone's jaw to drop.

"I am very disappointed I you Harry. I thought you were better than this," Dumbledore spoke trying to use his grandfather card.

At this, Harry simply raised one of eyebrows and said "And…?"

"And I would have to defend him in court if it came to that."

"Yes you would defend him wouldn't you. However, it won't come to that. I won't be getting a letter," Harry said confidently looking directly into Dumbledore's eyes while bringing up his mental shields.

"You are still underage, and no amount of fame will help you," Dumbledore said as he tried to enter Harry's mind and met a solid shield.

"While it's true that I am not 17, I was declared an emancipated minor earlier this month," Harry said pushing Dumbledore's gentle probe out of his mind causing the old man to flinch slightly.

"I find that hard to believe. The minister would not approve such an act," Dumbledore said equally confident.

"The minister has no choice in the matter. Sirius emancipated me when he made me the new head of the Black family," Harry said smirking at Dumbledore's shock.

"How?" Dumbledore finally asked.

"I went to Gringotts to get money for some purchases this summer, when I was there I was told to go see a goblin about the Wills of Sirius and my parents. Sirius left me almost everything. My parents did the same. However, I do have a question. When I was at Gringotts, the goblins acted as if they expected me, saying that they had sent me a letter informing me of Sirius will. Do you know why I didn't receive that letter?" Harry asked staring hard at Dumbledore.

"I didn't think you would be ready for hearing his Will so soon after his death," Dumbledore said calmly.

"So you intercepted my mail. The very thing you tried to prevent from happening last summer and you do yourself this year. I should be shocked but somehow I'm not," Harry replied anger apparent in his voice.

Hearing the anger in his voice Tonks reached and held his hand with hers, squeezing it for comfort.

"I did what I believed best," Dumbledore replied.

"Without giving me a choice in the matter?"

"I fear that I have abused your trust once again. I'm sorry."

"Yes you did, but I found out anyway so it doesn't matter."

"You are correct. However, I would like to continue on about with your schooling. I still think that it would be best to continue on at Hogwarts," Dumbledore said trying to regain control of the situation, not used to Harry staying in control of his emotions.

"Be that as it may Headmaster. I have already made arrangements for alternative schooling," Harry said calming down with Tonks' help. "I have been accepted into an apprenticeship by a man whose knowledge is unrivaled."

"Who have you been apprenticed to?" Dumbledore asked shocked that a student not even out of Hogwarts was able to gain an apprenticeship.

Smirking Harry said, "I believe you have heard of him. His name is Nicholas Flamel," causing Dumbledore to gape again.

"That's not possible! His stone was destroyed at the end of your first year," Dumbledore replied shaken.

"If you say so Headmaster. However that does not change the fact that his name is on the list of available masters and that he has already accepted me as an apprentice," Harry said inwardly happy that he has been able to keep the Headmaster off balance.

"I'm sorry Harry but I cannot allow you to go. You need to be protected," Albus said trying to force Harry top stay at Hogwarts.

"No."

"No?"

"No. You do not have the authority to keep me from going," Harry said his voice laced with steel. "You are the Headmaster of a school. You are not my guardian and I am not a member of your Order, so you have no right to stop me."

Dumbledore couldn't believe that he had lost so much control over Harry. The boy had been so reliant on him the years before but now he wouldn't do what he told him to and the boy was no longer throwing temper tantrums, he was calm and composed. Sighing he decided to play his card, "You leave me no choice Harry. It's obvious that Nymphadora here is more than just a friend to you. Despite being emancipated, it is still illegal for her to be dating you. Unless you return to Hogwarts I will be forced to inform her superiors of your relationship."

At this, the rest of the people gasped in surprise that the Headmaster, the leader of the light was making threats against a 16-year-old boy.

Smirking at both the reactions Dumbledore's statement received and at the useless threat Harry said, "Go ahead. Madam Bones is already aware of our relationship and nothing that is happening between us is illegal. Tonks is my betrothed. She and I are arranged to be married by my 17th birthday. The marriage was arranged by my parents."

At this Mrs. Weasley shrieked, Remus, Ron, Hermione, Dumbledore, and McGonagall looked shocked, and Ginny looked sad. Ginny's look did not go unnoticed by Harry, so he decided to go talk to her later.

"Why? Why would your parents force you into an arranged marriage?" Hermione the first to overcome her shock asked. "From what you've told me your father's family was not the type of pureblood to have arranged marriages. Your father certainly wasn't in an arranged marriage."

"You're right Hermione," Harry said with a smile. "My Father's family did not abide by arranged marriages. However it was not because of my Father's family that I am betrothed to Tonks."

"What? Then why?" Hermione asked confused.

"My mother was not actually a muggleborn. It turns out that she is descended from a long line of Squibs that belonged to a very powerful family. It is because of the customs of that family that I was betrothed to Tonks," Harry said explaining.

"Which family did your mother descend from?" This time it was McGonagall that asked.

"One of the founders, not Gryffindor though," Harry said looking at McGonagall with a smile.

"Certainly not Slytherin," she said as if the idea was crazy.

Laughing Harry said, "No, not Slytherin. Can you imagine Snape's shock if I was, I think he would die. No, my mother was the last heir of Ravenclaw."

In the ensuing shock-induced silence Harry grabbed Ginny and Tonks leading them out of the room.

A/N: I know that I didn't mention anyhting about Harry's Birthday in this chapter. I will get to that next time. Also, i will be starting the investigation against Umbitch soon.


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